Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

Posted on
Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:58 am
Juggler offline
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Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

With Google's Black Friday sale, I picked up a couple of Google Home Minis for $40 and a couple of Chromecast audios. By way of background, I have previously been using Logitech Media Server and piCorePlayer for my multi-zone audio. With the Chromecasts, audio is just as good and now I can control Spotify with only my voice!

The obvious next step in my test (yes, still a test, not committed yet) is to see if there is any way to integrate Google Home with Indigo. Reading through the forums, it does not look like anyone has had any great success. I was hoping the LIFX Bridge plugin would be a solution, however Google in their "infinite" wisdom requires you to use the LIFX app to connect LIFX devices. Since the LIFX Bridge plugin doesn't work with the official app, no dice.

Short of going IFTTT, does anyone have any other ideas on how I could issue voice commands from Google Home to Indigo? Is there another bridge-like plugin for a different protocol that I could try?

Posted on
Fri Dec 01, 2017 4:43 pm
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

Short of going IFTTT, does anyone have any other ideas on how I could issue voice commands from Google Home to Indigo?

Not at the moment... if Matt & Jay implement an OAuth server of some kind that will allow Alexa integration, I am sure that I will write a Google Home Action. They have added some updates recently allowing you to skip the "ask Indigo" or "tell Indigo" step, so ultimately could say "Turn off the Office Lights" and it would work smoothly. They also have released an update where you can combine two commands ("turn off the office lights and turn on the kitchen cans") that we could take care of. I don't THINK either of those would be available with IFTTT. So you could do some level of integration now but it would be basic.

Adam

Posted on
Sat Dec 02, 2017 9:31 am
freshwuzhere offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

Hi Adam,

I had a brief look at this and thought an independent server could receive the google home output and a separate indigo plugin could ping that same server for changes. It would be complicated, probably insecure and definitely not for the faint hearted....

Would that approach work in theory?




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Posted on
Sat Dec 02, 2017 11:18 am
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

I came across the following project. It looks fairly well “baked”. The only thing is there does appear to be some issues with Google’s latest update (scroll to near bottom).

https://github.com/bwssytems/ha-bridge/ ... /README.md


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Posted on
Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:34 am
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

I had a brief look at this and thought an independent server could receive the google home output and a separate indigo plugin could ping that same server for changes. It would be complicated, probably insecure and definitely not for the faint hearted....

The issue with talking to Indigo from the cloud (i.e. Google Home's Action or Alexa's Skills) is that both of these devices rely on OAuth for authentication -- which requires a trusted server to authenticate the user and then "match" the Google Home/Alexa commands back to the proper Reflector and thus Indigo system. In this scenario, the server must know the username/password of the Indigo installation in order to communicate.

Anyone could set this up, of course, but how many of us are going to give our login credentials to a third party like that?

Your approach someone solves the issue in that I wouldn't need to provide my login credentials to the server. However, you still must have a "routing" server that will store the commands in some way for the Indigo system to pick up. This is problematic in that essentially you are still trusting a third party to "match up" the commands, just not in the delivery of them.

I came across the following project. It looks fairly well “baked”. The only thing is there does appear to be some issues with Google’s latest update (scroll to near bottom).

No, HA-Bridge will no longer function for Google home, supposedly thanks to Phillips.

Adam

Posted on
Sun Dec 03, 2017 11:52 am
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

I think that setting up some sort of server on a local Pi might be the best route. This would get around entrusting a 3rd party with your credentials.

Are you aware of any such projects out there?

I think this would be a faster route than waiting for Indigo to include an OAuth.


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Posted on
Sun Dec 03, 2017 6:46 pm
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

Are you aware of any such projects out there?

Nope... HA Bridge was the only one I know of that you could utilize to create your own "fake" internal hub, but now Phillips requires that it be registered with them even when the control is local. As Jay mentioned recently in regards to Alexa Skills, technically you could create your own, custom skill that connects only to your server by registering as a developer. But I'll just wait for Indigo's changes for Alexa and then add a Home Action.

Posted on
Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:35 am
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

Not ready to give up yet. Doing some more digging, it looks like Google has created some sort of voice kit aimed directly at the Pi. Could this not be used to call Indigo URLs directly? I need to do some more reading on this...

https://developers.googleblog.com/2017/ ... jects.html

Posted on
Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:01 pm
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

Not ready to give up yet. Doing some more digging, it looks like Google has created some sort of voice kit aimed directly at the Pi. Could this not be used to call Indigo URLs directly?

Probably, but my understanding of that kit is that it is designed to bring voice interaction and the Google Assistant to other devices; I don't know that it is really directly interfacing with Home devices but, in a way, creating a "competing" device. I for one would rather wait a little while (Jay has stated they want to do the OAuth service for Alexa) and get a clean interface that is maintained, will work on all your (Android) devices, Homes, etc.

Posted on
Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:34 am
Hackencrash offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

I've done the AIY Google Voice kit Raspberry Pi thing and integrated this with Indigo.

Basically:
1. Build a Google Assistant on a Raspberry Pi using the AIY kit
2. Create an IFTTT account
3. Create a new applet
4. Search for Google Assistant as the Service
5. Create a phrase you want the Assistant to recognise (e.g. turn on the hall light)
6. Search for Notifications as the Action (this is a dummy action, see below)
7. On the Pi, modify the /home/pi/env/lib/python3.4/site-packages/googlesamples/assistant/library/hotword.py script under def process_event to intercept your voice command and send a curl command with digest security to trigger an indigo action

Something like Python command:
subprocess.call(['curl', '-u', 'username:password', '--digest', '-X', 'PUT', '-d', 'value=true', 'http://192.168.1.xx:8176/variables/HallLight'])

Alternatively, you could use a normal Google Assistant as opposed to this kit and choose the Gmail IFTTT action instead for 6. above, and capture that as a trigger directly in Indigo (Gmail is fast when using the IDLE IMAP push option)

Posted on
Wed Mar 07, 2018 12:57 am
Nidocamen offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

I have a solution that works pretty well, but unfortunately involves a few extra steps and hardware.

Google Home / Google Assistant >> SmartThings Hub >> HAM Bridge (running on Mac) >> Indigo

My SmartThings hub (not bought for this purpose) serves basically no other purpose except relaying commands to my Mac via various SmartApps that communicate back to HAM Bridge. The downside is that virtual devices have to be created on ST so that they can turned on or off via Google Asst. The on/off events are captured by the SmartApps and they fire off commands to HB on the Mac, and in turn that talks to Indigo via AppleScript (eventually will switch it to RESTful calls).

Each device or action group that I want to control via voice unfortunately has to exist in both HB and ST. And if I want customizable voice responses from Google Assistant instead of "OK, turning on the TV Scene", I create an IFTTT applet that turns on/off the virtual devices in ST.

Some links below describe this whole thing in more detail. Aside from the extra setup work, it's worked very well for me. I, too, wish that Indigo could have a way to directly integrate with G.A. and Alexa but it would be more cloud infrastructure to maintain and reduce the overall security context of Indigo. My personal preference for voice control after a lot of testing is Google Assistant. I have whole-home audio automated thru Indigo, iTunes and Airfoil streaming to my various Google Home / Mini devices.

http://solutionsetcetera.com/about-ham-bridge.html

http://scottinpollock.us/ham-bridge-and ... hings.html

https://community.smartthings.com/t/any ... ndigo/4240

Posted on
Wed Mar 07, 2018 5:24 am
Hackencrash offline
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Re: Google Home integration - thoughts, ideas?

Interesting use of the SmartThings hub as the “glue” between Google Assistant and Indigo.

Google Home / Google Assistant >> SmartThings Hub >> HAM Bridge (running on Mac) >> Indigo

Alternatively, without additional hardware, you could go:

Google Home / Google Assistant >> IFTTT >> GMAIL (or other email account supporting IDLE push) >> Indigo better email plugin.

Fortunately, I have found IDLE push emails to be instantaneous from IFTTT as there is nothing worse than hanging around for a light to switch on!




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