Ideal Controller(s) for Voice Control / Recommended Config

Posted on
Sat Dec 26, 2015 8:12 pm
ChrisRogers offline
Posts: 2
Joined: Dec 25, 2015

Ideal Controller(s) for Voice Control / Recommended Config

I apologize if some of these may have been answered in previous posts but I couldn't find anything definitive.

I have been an Indigo customer for quite a few versions and while I love the software and have been much more pleased these days with the reliability of the Insteon brand switches I have a huge desire for maximum control via voice of an Indigo powered home.

Voice Control via Siri or Alexa

With HomeKit showing up in more devices and the Insteon Hub Pro offering Siri integration is it possible for Indigo to control the Insteon Hub like it currently controls the 2413U?

Are there any plans of native Siri support? Are plans there to have the HomeKit framework added to Indigo and Indigo Touch apps?

If not Siri, is there is the goal to improve Alexa support based on the current open source project that some Indigo users have been working on? I just recently got an Echo just to try out this project and the ability to have a listening home would be incredible.

With remote control blinds, fancy Logitech Harmony remotes and the thousands of AV devices out there and Indigo's goal of being a bridge among all of these technologies I'm wondering where Indigo Domo see their platform going in terms of support of voice as well as the Insteon Hub.

I've got an itch :) Looking for direction!

Posted on
Sat Dec 26, 2015 11:13 pm
johnnyrt offline
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Joined: Feb 06, 2014

Re: Ideal Controller(s) for Voice Control / Recommended Conf

I'm wondering the same thing. Is anyone working on a plugin? It's hard to take the weekend warriors with plug and play stuff can do this, but Indigo still can't.

Posted on
Wed Dec 30, 2015 2:21 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Ideal Controller(s) for Voice Control / Recommended Conf

ChrisRogers wrote:
With HomeKit showing up in more devices and the Insteon Hub Pro offering Siri integration is it possible for Indigo to control the Insteon Hub like it currently controls the 2413U?


No.

ChrisRogers wrote:
Are there any plans of native Siri support? Are plans there to have the HomeKit framework added to Indigo and Indigo Touch apps?


Unfortunately, it's not possible because Apple's licensing won't allow for software HomeKit bridges. The Homebridge project is an open source reverse-engineered HomeKit software bridge and some of our users are using it successfully, but given the nature of that project we're not comfortable releasing it as an official part of Indigo.

ChrisRogers wrote:
If not Siri, is there is the goal to improve Alexa support based on the current open source project that some Indigo users have been working on? I just recently got an Echo just to try out this project and the ability to have a listening home would be incredible.


I'm working on a plugin that we're going to open source (hopefully next week) which allows Indigo to look like a Hue bridge to the Echo (and other Alexa devices). You can, therefore, publish 27 (the limit for the Echo integration apparently) Indigo devices as Hue devices that can then be controlled via any Alexa capable device (Echo, FireTV, etc). This is another reverse-engineered solution, but the relatively small amount of work required to get it into a single plugin without any extra installation makes it a reasonable candidate for a plugin.

Longer term, we're looking into the Alexa SDK for more official support, though that's further out and is dependent on a variety of things mentioned in the blog post. My personal view is that voice control via the Echo, because it's more hands free and fixed in terms of location, is a better solution to voice control than Siri, which (mostly) requires you to touch it to do something. And even with the latest hardware that can have Siri listening without touching, it's by design a mobile device and may or may not be within listening distance. Just my feeling.

And while voice control is quite nice, we've often said that control is only one facet of automation - Indigo excels at automation (things happening automatically without direct manual control). We will continue to look at the various technologies for control that we can add to Indigo at the same time that we're looking to expand our customer's ability to create real automation that simply blends into their every day lives.

Finally, our 3rd party developers and users have done a fantastic job of filling out the ecosystem and we rely on them to help continue to make the Indigo ecosystem even more valuable.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Sun Jan 03, 2016 11:43 pm
ChrisRogers offline
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Joined: Dec 25, 2015

Re: Ideal Controller(s) for Voice Control / Recommended Conf

Awesome Jay!!!

Love to hear about Alexa support hopefully next week! I completely agree the "always listening" device I think is much more suitable. I love everything about Indigo and control it gives your home and I think the voice control via Echo/Alexa will be incredible!

Thank you for all of your efforts!

Posted on
Mon Jan 04, 2016 11:30 am
jay (support) offline
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Re: Ideal Controller(s) for Voice Control / Recommended Conf


Jay (Indigo Support)
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