HAL, Amazon Echo/Dot, SMS, and TV Control

[BDD43]

I've been testing some skills using the Amazon Dot/Echo along with HAL.
Since we can call Macros very easily now and do a Send IP, I have been able to integrate the Dot, HAL, and Denise (NextOS avatar) into some interesting areas.

Below is a link to just some of the skills:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkuUiaMDHPg

Let me know what you think..

[richland007]

that is very cool
What part is taken care by Alexa and whats HAL's?/
I haven't had any interaction with Alexa at all so i wouldn't know what its capable of interface wise.
I really like the avatar part Denise ...how is that interfaced
Denis

[BDD43]

Alexa is Amazon's cloud service. The Echo and Dot are the hardware to connect to it. The Dot is in the video because it has audio out whereas the Echo does not. If you google Amazon Alexa, there are several youtube videos and it can answer a lot of questions, control your home etc.

Denise is NextOS. She is actually a chatbot and has won many awards for the chat capability.

HAL is in the background with Macros set, since Alexa doesn't allow such things.

My program does nothing more than feed (speech to text) whatever comes out of the Dot into a microphone input, which then sends that to the Denise API to read it the text.

Hope that helps.

[TimShriver]

Hi,


Here is the link to the site that has made an interface to HAL and the Echo. http://www.bwssystems.com/


You must be on HALultra or HALpro v6.


They haven’t listed the HAL version yet as they have been sending updates to me to send to our HAL users with Echos. Here is the link for the HAL version

http://www.bwssystems.com/files/ha-bridge-2.0.7-hal-h.jar

You have to tell the Bridge about HAL's ip address and the HAL WebService Token.
http://www.automatedliving.com/files/Misc_Download/HA-Bridge-1.png

Then you add the various HAL Devices discovered by the Bridge that uses the HAL WebService.
http://www.automatedliving.com/files/Misc_Download/HA-Bridge-2.png

[jamarotta]

I have an Echo, a DOT, and the TAP. I love the DOT the best because of its additional ability to bluetooth out audio vs. the Echo and TAP that takes bluetooth audio in and plays. This is VERY exciting to see HAL starting to integrate with Alexa. I currently also have an Insteon Hub V2 so control some 54 or so insteon devices (include Nest Tstats) with Alexa. So far, its been a competition somewhat between HAL and Alexa, but working together I think results in something greater than each. Tim - Happy to beta test if you need it in this area.

[TimShriver]

Hi Joe,

We've added support for the Vera controller and may add support for the Insteon Hub. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the hub does not allow you to do any kind of rules. Even the Alexa doesn't have the ability to do any kind of logic processing such a rules...

We see Alexa as a speech portal. As you know we like to see multiple ways of interacting with the home; microphones, intercoms, telephones, touch screens, remotes, browsers, apps, remotes, sensors, even ip cameras that have 2-way communication capabilities... In any given situation there may be a number of different ways to achieve that interaction with the home, one more convenient or practical than another given the situation.

Cheers,

Tim

[BDD43]

Tim,
You are correct. The Echo/DOT/TAP, nor the HUB have any scheduling, macros, rules, etc. etc. built in. Only Dim, On/Off. This is why I had to create a Alexa Skill to run the macros.

What would be outstanding is if HAL could incorporate a way for HAL to push notifications out through the device. I use it as a bluetooth speaker to do this and software soundswitch to move that output throughout the house depending on where I am at.

Alexa works with the Insteon Hub, so it does discover all of my devices. "Alexa, turn off the kitchen lights", etc. works great. One HUGE thing to keep in mind; Alexa's microphone is NOT bluetooth.

[TimShriver]

One HUGE thing to keep in mind; Alexa's microphone is NOT bluetooth.

Yes, I have an echo for testing with HAL... We also have the Sound Blaster SBX which we have been testing with HAL...

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Bluetooth-Wireless-Dual-Array-Microphone/dp/B0085YTDBA

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Bluetooth-Wireless-Dual-Array-Microphone/dp/B0085YTCYS

Tim

[jamarotta]

Hi Tim - Alexa has the ability to put multiple devices into groups and to control groups (similar to the HAL group function). In addition, the HUB2 software has scheduling capability based on time, although Alexa currently does not have access to the scheduling logic and so schedules of devices (or groups) must be done in the Hub application software.

The more broader thought here though is yes, I agree with you, that HAL is one of the best products there is (if not the best) for operating many different types of devices based on many different types of conditions and conditional logic. Alexa does not currently possess much of this. However what Alexa brings to the table is convenience and great ease of use for the everyday person who doesn't want or know how to spend time on automating their home, they just know they want to be able to speak to turn a light on or lower a thermostat and it happens.

The more these two products are able to integrate and work with each other, the closer I think you get to a solution that works for those who want both the convenience and the flexibility to do alot of things.

Having HAL being able to bluetooth out its speech through an echo/dot/tap, or being able to talk to Alexa and cause HAL to perform something that Alexa can't do on its owns are great moves in the right direction and as a user, enthusiast, and part time hobbyist, I'm excited about the integration if we get there!. Joe

[TimShriver]

The problem with both the Insteon hub, Alexa and even Nest is that if your Wifi has a problem or you have an internet issue, you are dead in the water... HAL only uses the internet to periodically validate your license and if it can't get through it give you a grace period.

See this article for some insight to the pain of a novice!

http://mashable.com/2016/07/05/smart-home-useless-internet-down/#skU1ki780aqd

Tim

[BDD43]

Tim,
I agree to some degree that there will be down time when it comes to Alexa and other IoT, but if my electricity is out, I can't do anything either. If Alexa, etc can't provide the convenience, I can still get up and turn on a light manually.

For the time being, I may create a quick link Alexa Skill to HAL. I would have to say, "Alexa tell HAL <<or whatever name I give the skill>> to run <<Macro name>>. I already have a skill for Good Morning and Good Night that fires off a Macro.

Not sure what the HAL Bridge is for that was posted. Perhaps if you didn't have the Insteon HUB2 ?

[TimShriver]

Darrin,

I think you are confused on a number of things i posted... First the issue i mentioned was if the internet goes out as did the article i posted a link to. If you loose internet, you can't talk to Siri or Alexa! Second the if you are using a skill that is the way you have to interact with Alexa. The Bridge that was mentioned is a software emulation of a hardware bridge that was developed by BWS Systems. It allows you to turn on or off HAL devices or execute macros via Alexa with out saying tell HAL...

Call me sometime and I will explain further if you like.

Cheers,

Tim

[BDD43]

I will definitely look at the bridge if it cuts down on the "Alexa tell <<>>" portion to run macros. I really hate that. As far as On/Off and Dim, the hub and Alexa take care of that as I can already say, "Alexa turn off the hall lights". Using my Alexa Skill, I can also say, "Alexa start Good Morning" to run the Good Morning Macro in HAL.

I understood. I was just stating that I would never allow myself to be in a situation where I had to completely rely on the internet (Alexa, or any device, including wireless) to turn on my lights, etc. as the person in the article did. I see these all as a convenience and not a all or nothing.

[TimShriver]

It's amazing to me how many things are tied to the internet... even your Insteon Hub. The smartphone app communicates with Smartlabs' server which communicates to the the hub. We had a user switch all their Nest Stats over to RTC wifi stats so they would not be dependent on both having the internet up and Nest's servers! He eliminated two points of failure that were out of his control.

Tim

[BDD43]

I agree, it is scary, but I look at the internet like electric. I lost electricity once last year and I lost internet once last year. I could buy a generator for electric outage, but not can be done when the internet is out. That is why I make sure to view it only as a 'nice to have'.

[TimShriver]

LOL!

I loss power so often I had my electric company add a device to my electrical meter that allows me to plug my generator in directly when the power goes out... It automatically switches to the utility when power is back.

Also my internet at home is based on the satellite service provider called Exede. So I lose Internet more than power! Any bad rain or snow storm and see ya later! Soooo I cannot be depending on infrastructure for uninterrupted 365 service. The Internet is out 4-5 times a month! I have customers that have either Verizon or Comcast and they too take their service providers names in vain LOL. Depending on the cloud is gamble. And as more and more services become cloud centric you not only run the risk of an outage because of your own local utility but also that of the service providers infrastructure.


http://www.automatedliving.com/files/xfer/Tim/img_2396.jpeg

http://www.automatedliving.com/files/xfer/Tim/img_6942.jpeg

[BDD43]

Yes indeed. We started looking at natural gas generators. The gas lines are in the ground and also kick on when electricity is lost. The cost is higher, but I wouldn't have to fill a tank every 8 or 10 hours, but of course it is not portable either. I guess between electric and internet, it boils down to where you live and how reliable your service is. The last town we lived in, we never lost electric or internet in over 3 years (their power lines were buried).

[TimShriver]

Hi, Just a quick update... http://www.bwssystems.com/ just released their latest version 3.0 Amazon Echo HA Bridge that supports HAL. You must have version 6.1.11 or above to use their software.

The HA Bridge allows connectivity from the Amazon Echo or other automation controllers to various Home Automation systems, such as the Vera, Harmony Hub, Nest, HAL, Limitless/Mi-Light or most devices that has an accessible http interface. There are features that allow connections to any http/https/TCP/UDP or scripts or programs on the host machine to be able to consolidate home automation tasks.

Regards,

Tim

[BDD43]

Tim,
Does that include running macro's? "Alexa, start movie time"...etc. ?

[stregone]

Tim, I have downloaded the latest version of the HA-Bridge, but am unable to get the menu that you posted a screen shot of. Are there any tips you can give me to get this bridge up and running to the point that you have posted the screenshots? Or can you direct me to some documentation on how to set the bridge up to run with HAL?

[TimShriver]

Sure, Let me put together a PDF as a quick getting started guide. I should have something rough for you either tomorrow or Monday....

Tim

[DaveGA]

I have both the ECHO and the DOT. My wife loves it for music etc...... I have no desire to make this my HA device for my house.....I would however, love to use the voice recognition as a house wide MIC to HAL for the family. The thought of dropping MICs and mixers, etc...... is not attractive, but a VOIP feed direct to HAL for control of systems and feedback from HAL would be awesome.

I know this is simplistic and tougher to implement then I am depicting. I'm patient and reading and seeing what direction this all will go.

Cheers,

dave

[TimShriver]

Please find attached a first draft of how to get started with the HA-Bridge from BWS to use your Amazon Echo or Dot... Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Regards,

Tim

[DaveGA]

Thanks Tim. I'll give it a go this week before I take off again for work!

Cheers,

dave

[BDD43]

I have both the ECHO and the DOT. My wife loves it for music etc...... I have no desire to make this my HA device for my house.....I would however, love to use the voice recognition as a house wide MIC to HAL for the family. The thought of dropping MICs and mixers, etc...... is not attractive, but a VOIP feed direct to HAL for control of systems and feedback from HAL would be awesome.

I know this is simplistic and tougher to implement then I am depicting. I'm patient and reading and seeing what direction this all will go.

Cheers,

dave

Yes, that is what I was hoping to do as well, but they do not have bluetooth microphones, only speakers. Not sure why amazon went that route, since we could be using it for phone conferences, HAL, et.,etc....maybe they will open it up one day.

[Krauzac]

Tim,
I'm running HA-bridge 3.2.2 right on the same my Win 7 PC just like your helpful PDF document shows.
I'm having a little trouble with the DIM feature as I'm not sure what dropdown to use in the ha -bridge web GUI.
None of them seem to work right, and I'm monitoring the x-10 calls in HAL Monitor.
I see the repeated calls but no lights dim.
If I use my RF remote to dim I see a single "EDI" call to that lamp, and it dims.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Caz

[TimShriver]

Let me try and add an X10 lamp module to a system and configure in the bridge software. I'll get back to you :-)

[TimShriver]

I'm having a little trouble with the DIM feature as I'm not sure what dropdown to use in the ha -bridge web GUI.
None of them seem to work right, and I'm monitoring the x-10 calls in HAL Monitor.
I see the repeated calls but no lights dim.


It looks like the Bridge GUI is not generating the proper Dim command for our web service. I'm not sure how to get the percent as a variable into the Dim URL so I hard coded mine for 60%. See the attached screen capture. I also included the HALws documentation. We may need to add a web service call for dimming that just takes the current setting down by X as opposed to setting it to a value if we cannot get the value from the echo to populate into the dim url. I'll check with the team that built the Bridge software.

Tim

[Krauzac]

Tim -
Thank you so much!

[BDD43]

Tim, I'm trying to wrap my head around the HA-Bridge, but not sure what it can do for me since the Alexa app can already see my insteon devices. I assume this is for X-10?

Also, I'm looking at writing code to open HAL more for myself: Alexa, start HAL....HAL responds, "How may I help you?" but through the Echo.
The conversation could then take place as if I were talking to HAL with HAL using the audio output of the Echo as a bluetooth speaker. SO, in essence, I would only have to translate what I say from my skill to HAL.

[TimShriver]

I'm not sure i understand what you mean by "I assume this is for X-10?" the interface will control any light in HAL... or macro, group, scene...
I haven't tried pairing the Echo with HAL using Bluetooth. Our new servers have built in Bluetooth. I am curious if the microphone array will be accessible via the Bluetooth or if they only exposed the speakers for streaming music.

Tim

[TimShriver]

FYI...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201727450

Tim

[BDD43]

Tim,
I guess what I'm confused about. Can I say, "Alexa run ...,macro..." ? or "Alexa run Movie Time" ? and it work with HAL to run those setup in HAL? If so, then GREAT. If it only turns on/off/dims then Alexa already does that with Insteon devices.

Yes, the main complaint I have with the Echo is they do not allow it to be a bluetooth microphone...only a bluetooth speaker. I have an Echo and two Dots throughout the house and created several skills.
One being: "Alexa start goodnight"....it runs my skill which actually then runs a HAL Macro. (Turns off all the lights but one, turns down the TV volume, then turns it off, turns on the security system in 5 minutes, turns on the light in the bedroom)...

Another reason for using the bluetooth speaker is to have HAL speak notifications (another thing the Echo does not do) through the Echo or Dots.

I also have a program called just remote phone that connects to my cell phone. I wrote an add-on for it. So, when I get a text message, it reads it over my speaker: "You have a new message from Zachary. Do you still need my help in the yard?" I have another skill called reply: "Alexa tell reply, Yes I still need your help." It then sends a text message back to him. No need to find my phone.

I have a lot of ideas, just trying to piece them all together to integrate everything.

[TimShriver]

Yes, I have Macros, Groups, Scenes... all in the Bridge working with HAL

[BDD43]

How to you initiate them with Alexa?

[TimShriver]

Attached is a revised HAL BWS Setup Guide for Alexa... This addresses using the Dim Control Type.

Tim

[BDD43]

Tim,

How do you run the macros and scenes using the Echo/Alexa ?

[Mike]

Here is an updated copy of the HAL/Alexa (amazon Echo) documentation.

-Mike

[BDD43]

How do you use it with Alexa?? "Alexa start {macro name}"....??

[TimShriver]

How do you use it with Alexa?? "Alexa start {macro name}"....??

No, you would say "Turn {Macro Name} on"

[BDD43]

Thanks Tim!

Now, I will get this going. I wanted to make sure I could call it directly. Since it sounds like it is almost seen as a device, that would cut out me calling my program first.

[BDD43]

Started going through setting this up. First got an error 500 and no devices found. Then rebooted and still no devices, but no error from the web page, just this in the cmd screen:
ERROR spark.webserver.MatcherFilter -
com.google.gson.JsonSyntaxException: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Expected BEGIN_ARRAY but was STRING at line 1 column 15 path $.IrButtons
at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapte rFactory$Adapter.read(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory .java:220)
at com.google.gson.Gson.fromJson(Gson.java:879)
at com.google.gson.Gson.fromJson(Gson.java:844)
at com.google.gson.Gson.fromJson(Gson.java:793)
at com.google.gson.Gson.fromJson(Gson.java:765)
at com.bwssystems.hal.HalInfo.getDeviceButtons(HalInf o.java:156)
at com.bwssystems.hal.HalInfo.getButtons(HalInfo.java :88)
at com.bwssystems.hal.HalHome.getDevices(HalHome.java :90)
at com.bwssystems.HABridge.devicemanagmeent.DeviceRes ource.lambda$14(DeviceResource.java:287)
at spark.ResponseTransformerRouteImpl$1.handle(Respon seTransformerRouteImpl.java:47)
at spark.webserver.MatcherFilter.doFilter(MatcherFilt er.java:162)

---
Also noticed this upon trying to save. I am running the bat file as Administrator:

[main] INFO com.bwssystems.HABridge.BridgeSettings - Cannot set permissions for config file on this system as it is not supported. Continuing

[dtomcat]

Just received my Echo Dot today in the mail. Setup via the latest guide posted on this thread... Works Great!

[TimShriver]

That's great... We are working on creating a UI in HAL to allow you to configure the devices. If you look in the Data directory under where you launch the bridge, you'll see a file called devices.db. This is what you have configured using the Bridge UI.

What we plan on doing is having an option in System Settings to Enable the BWS Bridge and HAL will create the habridge.config file. If this option is enabled, then as part of the Device Wizard and the Macro Wizard you will be able to checkbox if the device is to be included in the device.db that is used by the HA Bridge.

No time frame as of yet for this feature in the new version 7.

Tim

[BDD43]

I could never get the bridge working after several attempts. I did read through the bridge site on the errors, but still not working. Might try a new computer again.
Excellent concept on making it more integrated and user friendly within HAL; maybe add it in with HALNET?

[TimShriver]

Why don't you call our support line and see if one of the guys can help you get it configured?

Tim

[BDD43]

TIm,

WIll do. I followed the directions to the T a couple of times, but I'm also running a web service, but on a different port....and I even shut it down, but still an error. It will help me out tremendously since I am writing code to do the same thing in C#. Much cleaner using the bridge. :-)

[DadGoneMad]

Just as an FYI, I recently upgraded from my DSL to high-speed with AT&T. After the installation of their new wireless router my HA Bridge would not launch with HAL. No errors, very confusing. I realized that the IP address of my HALUltra Server changed and the config file for the Bridge was still referencing my old IP address with the port used (8089).

I manually edited the habridge.config file using notepad, replacing the old IP address with the new one, then edited the device.db file using notepad, updating and replacing the old IP address within the device.db file with the new one and viola, after starting the HA-Bridge-Start.bat file the bridge came up just fine and is back working good as new.

Just thought I'd share a bit of this information with you, in case it helps others.

[TimShriver]

You can change the IP Address of the HAL under the Bridge Control screen. However once the devices are added, the only way currently to change the ip address of items already added, is to do as you have discovered... edit the device.db I'll ask the folks at BWS if they can add an option to update the IP Address, port and Token if changed. I know they are working on a couple of other requests such as allowing for HTTPS.

Tim

[DadGoneMad]

Tim,
I tried to load the bridge control screen, but nothing would ever open. I just MacGyver'd a solution to see if I could fix it and it worked. However another problem that's surfaced is now I'm VOIP and they couldn't connect the phone line to my office connected to the HAL modem, not enough pairs after they had to loop-back the alarm system to get it to work correctly with monitoring service. UG! Any other solution that would allow me to use my house phones to talk to HAL? Have much faster internet, but now have broken SOOOO many things in the house due to the reconfiguration and the installation of AT&T's wireless router.. UG...

[john.cafagna]

As an FYI I personally found it easier, when using Alexa to turn off groups, to create a fake x10 device with a letter code I am not using and have HAL rules run off of that turning off or on. Example (Inside Light, HAL Virtual (Custom) X10, with code E07). Add that in the bridge then can say, "Alexa turn on inside lights". I may be making it more difficult, but works better for me. :)

I do have a question regarding the .bat file running the open command prompt. In the VERY APPRECIATED and EASY TO FOLLOW directions for HAL BWS Setup, it states, " Remember to remove this after testing or it will be nuisance when everything is working well and you simply want to close the window". Is this referring to the pause command? Is there a way for the cmd window to close and the Echo still see those connected devices? It appears when I close down the window, the Echo cannot control the lights. Thanks!

[dtomcat]

That window needs to stay open. When you close that window, you are actually closing the program. if you remove the pause command, then the window would close automatically when the program stops running. So I believe the nuisance they are talking about is only the PAUSE portion as it requires your input to close the window. Only way to remove this window would be to call it in the background (would have to google that if it's even possible, but i'm pretty sure it is).

[TimShriver]

As an FYI I personally found it easier, when using Alexa to turn off groups, to create a fake x10 device with a letter code I am not using and have HAL rules run off of that turning off or on. Example (Inside Light, HAL Virtual (Custom) X10, with code E07). Add that in the bridge then can say, "Alexa turn on inside lights". I may be making it more difficult, but works better for me. :)


John,

You can use the Groups command in HAL and in the HA Bridge. For example, I have my lights grouped in lots of ways. Upstairs, Main Floor, Basement, Inside, Outside, Front, Back... Take the HAL Group Outside... In the HA Bridge it adds this item as just the Group name Outside. So you would say to Alexa "Turn Outside Off" To keep my command consistent with HAL and for clarity I edit the Name in the HA Bridge to be "All Outside Lights" . This means I say the same thing to HAL and Alexa; "Turn All Outside Lights On". I don't use a virtual device or rule, just the HAL Group.

Tim

[Pat Smith]

Hello, I cant seem to open Ha bridge. I have Hal Ultra on windows 10 using chrome it downloads but does not open> I have nothing but Java icon with Ha bridge any help would be greatly appreciated. Do I need a the Hue bridge for this to work. I have all X10 devices

[TimShriver]

Hi Pat,

Here is the most recent setup guide. I'm not sure if you tried to follow an older version of this guide. Let me know if after following these instructions, you are still unable to get it to work.

http://www.automatedliving.com/docs/HAL%20BWS%20Setup%20Guide%20for%20Alexa%200.8c.pdf

Tim

[john.cafagna]

I had to throw out my old computer and start over. As I reinstalled HAL I also had to recreate the HAI Bridge. When I went to their site, there is a new version which I used. The Token no longer goes in the old spot, but next to the HAL setting.... almost like you could have multiple HAL servers now.

Anyway, I have run into an issue where errors are populating after it runs for a couple minutes and then my Echo can no longer have the devices respond. Anyone else having these issues or know of a fix? Not sure if it is a coincidence with the new HAI jar file or maybe my computer or even my Insteon USB interface.

Thanks.

UPDATE - Just noticed they released a 5.0.0 jar file. I was on 4.5.6 --- I will monitor with new file.

The jar file is still throwing some strange codes in the open cmd window. When the codes are displayed Alexa often can no longer have the HAL devices respond when I use voice commands.
Within the codes thrown with spark.http.matching.MatcherFilter is a frequent presence in most error lines. An exact code is: 2017-12-02 16:27:58,723 [qtp6696044-22] INFO spark.http.matching.MatcherFilter - The requested route [//(null)] has not been mapped in Spark for Accept: [null]

[djewell]

Has anyone used the ifttt skill and webhooks to send a web service request to run a macro? I’ve set it up and it works but I still hate that I have to use the word trigger. Wondering if anyone else has found anything to send something more natural.

[john.cafagna]

Has anyone had the issue that Alexa says server is unresponsive for HAL devices added via Ha Bridge?

It happened out of nowhere on or about 1/16/2019.

I attempted deleting and re-adding devices with no luck.

The web portal for the Ha Bridge still controls the lights and is available on my network at a static IP address. HAL Homenet also still works.

[djewell]

I am having the same issue too since the 7.4.1 upgrade I also noticed that the new Alexa interface is available but not sure how to set it up or if the skill is available in Canada

[dtomcat]

if you deleted them and readded them... make sure you also delete them out of the Alexa App and rescan ... I seem to have an issue where the URLs in HA bridge somewhere messed up after an update or something... I basically deleted HA bridge stuff and started from scratch... then deleted everything HA Bridge related in Alexa app... and did a rescan. After that, everything worked again