I know I’m late to the game, so pardon the Newbie question.
Does the VEdge driver integrate with the Aeotec Hub? I perused the messages and I gather it does, but I want to be certain.
I want Alexa to announce my new Google SMS messages. A kind soul on Reddit suggested I could use VEdge or Voice Monkey, but I’m not a fan of subscriptions. I got the IF working with a Samsung routine, now I just need the Then.
Any other alternatives BTW?
The vEdge driver from TAustin is amazing. You can create virtually any type of device and pass statuses back and forth between platforms. I use it with Google Home to communicate with devices that only work in GH, but the vEdge driver lets me do things that are otherwise impossible in ST’s.
As for announcing messages on Alexa, I’ll have to take a pass on that, as I don’t use that platform. With Google Home, I use the Cast Web API to facilitate making announcements from ST’s to GH.
Voice Monkey went away when ST shut down their Groovy-based cloud environment.
There is no direct way to have ST play a message on an Alexa device. The only way is to use a virtual device in ST as a trigger for an Alexa routine that performs an “Alexa Speaks” action. For example, I have virtual presence sensors for each of us in ST and then use Alexa routines to welcome each of us when the virtual sensor shows us as present.
There may be some way to use the 3rd party rules engine sharptools.io, but I still think you would need something to act as a proxy/trigger for Alexa.
All edge drivers, stock or custom, run on an Aeotec hub. That’s how the SmartThings edge architecture works.
It sounds like you might find the community FAQ helpful:
FAQ: I have no idea what Edge is. Is that a new developer tool? (2022)
As far as having Alexa make announcements, if you have a specific announcement that you want to make for a specific trigger, that’s a very popular use case. Here’s the community FAQ for that.
FAQ: Can I trigger an Echo Action without Speaking to It?
However, that method does not allow for any kind of variable. So for example, you could use that method to have one Alexa routine announce “Mary is home” when Mary arrives home and a different Alexa routine announce “Michael is home” when Michael arrives home. But you couldn’t set up just a single Alexa routine to make a differently worded announcement based on which of those specific presences is detected. So it comes down to the details of what you were trying to do.
I suggest you start a new thread in the automation ideas area of the forum and describe exactly what you would like to do and then people should be able to help you.
It will be helpful for you to indicate what country you are in as some of the Amazon features do vary by region. And make sure you mention in your first post that you do have the Aeotec hub.
Thanks, I wish Alexa had variables and multiple conditions.
All I want is to have Alexa say a new message has arrived, as I don’t always have my phone with me.
The trick is going to be capturing the message arrival event because that’s not built into the standard SmartThings routines. That’s why I recommend that you create a new thread under automation ideas and I’m sure there will be people there who can help you.
If you have an android phone, you might need a third-party App called Tasker to capture the fact that there’s a new message.
If you have an iPhone, you can probably still do that, but in a different way. So again, for your new thread, make sure you include the details of what you want to have trigger the event.
Thanks, I already make extensive use of Alexa to announce my Arlo/Eufy/dry contact motion events and show the Arlo/Eufy motion events on my Echo Shows. Although the Arlo connectivity can be flakey, since I don’t have a subscription.
Someone told me they’re using the routines on their phone with SmartThings and VEdge to announce new messages to Alexa, so I’m pretty sure my use case will work, but I wasn’t sure about the different Hub.
Thanks for your extensive help, I’m sure it will be useful for other tasks.