Amazon Alexa & IoT

building on the last lab we are going to use IFTT or If This Then That to allow us to trigger an action.

in our example we are going to setup an IoT platform for elderly members of our community that are still living at home. The idea is we can use something like an amazon echo for the final product but we will test on a mobile phone to start with.

Home Help:

In this exercise we will download the Amazon Alexa app to your Apple or Android mobile phone.

iOS:

the iOS Amazon Alexa app can be found here https://apps.apple.com/au/app/amazon-alexa/id944011620

Android:

the Android Amazon Alexa app can be found here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.dee.app

Signing in / Creating Amazon account:

Once the app is downloaded you will need to create an account if you do not have one. On sign in you will get prompted for Alexa to learn you voice saying a few phrases like "Alexa how is the weather"

After you have done this ask Alexa a few questions and get a feel for how the app works. Maybe "Alexa tell me a joke" or "Alexa I am hungry"

Now we will need to link Alexa with IFTT.

IFTT

Sign into the IFTT account https://ifttt.com/ that you set up in the previous lab.

Linking devices together that run different platforms is why IFTTT is such a useful service.

To add the amazon alexa service in the explore area search for "alexa" then click services.

Click on Amazon Alexa and select "Connect".

This should take you to an Amazon sign in page, use the username and password that you created / used on the Alexa app on your mobile drive.

you should then get "Service connected successfully!" shown at the top of the page.

Creating the IFTTT function

click Explore and then create.

if this

for this section we will be searching for Alexa then selecting Say a specific phrase

for us we are going to create an alert for a fall, so in the phrase area write "fall help".

click create trigger

then that

in our example we will get this alert to send an email, this could also be a phone call or text message (android only)

search email, select send an email.

for the subject write "IoT fall alert", and in the body "testing fall alert".

then click create and finally finish.

Testing our Voice command

Now open up the Alexa app on your mobile phone.

say "Alexa trigger fall help"