Who's interested in beta testing my Amazon Alexa / APEX skill?

Chuck Tyler · Feb 12, 2018

I would also like to be a tester as soon as you and Neptune are ready. I have a fairly extensive apex installation and should be able to do a fair amount of testing.

User1 · Feb 12, 2018

Alexa and I have this love hate relationship going on. I'm sure if I got involved and she learned about the Apex bad things would happen. Bad I tell you, bad. She is a naughty little thing.

Rob Iuliano · Mar 3, 2018

Any update to this? Just bought a new Apex today.

Joe Carioti · Mar 5, 2018

Rob Iuliano said:
Any update to this? Just bought a new Apex today.

I had some personal issues to take care of over the holiday season, so there wasn't much progress being made until recently. We're making good progress now. I don't want to give out any estimates as I'm usually pretty far off, and there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to new stuff like this. I will definitely update this post as I have more to share. Thanks for the patience

dstienmann · Mar 6, 2018

I need this as well!

ShadowR55 · Mar 7, 2018

I’m open to testing as well. I have Echo’s in every room of my house and connected to my Wink hub which pretty much controls everything in the house, so I use Alexa on a daily basis. You don’t know how many times I’ve tried telling Alexa to turn off my return pump and my wife looks at me like i’m crazy.
For TV control I have Alexa connected to the Harmony Hub and I use the command “Alexa, Tell Harmony to turn to Animal Planet”
“Alexa, Tell Apex to Turn Off the Return Pump”
What I’ve realized with using Alexa and apps is that you really need to make the command as if you are talking to an individual in a conversational manner.

ScubaShane · Mar 10, 2018

So........guys......This is not a bash.....but.....Ive had this set-up for a while now with my Google Home. It seems more complicated with Alexa. I have two smart outlets on the end of my EB8 which my return pump and skimmer are pluged into. I named the outlet during the set up and connected the two outlets to the command "feed mode". So I say " Hey Google Feed Mode" and it turns my skimmer off for 4mins and return pump for 3mins. I programmed it through the Google Assistant. Verry easy.

ScubaShane · Mar 10, 2018

Oh....just saw the videos...verry cool. Much better than my set up. You just have to make one for Google Home. Ill be your tester!

Tmcgoo13 · Mar 24, 2018

Joe Carioti said:
Hey everyone. I've been working on an Alexa skill that allows you to use voice commands to control outlets on your APEX controller. I think the app is ready for some real world testing, so I'll need some daring participants to test it out.

Here are a few live demos from my last build:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX0OOv5lJzP/?taken-by=nullreef
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX0N2WEFESY/?taken-by=nullreef

For anyone that's interested in testing this skill, I only ask that you report back any bugs, comments, or concerns that you have with the app. I will have to add testers on a per-person basis, and all that's required is an active email address.

Let me know if you're interested!

I’m interested are you still looking for beta testers?

rkpetersen · Mar 25, 2018

Joe, Just saw this, please count me interested as well. Just set up my seventh Echo Dot yesterday, although I'm not sure dot's enough. ;Smuggrin

Joe Carioti · Mar 26, 2018

Tmcgoo13 said:
I’m interested are you still looking for beta testers?

Not at the moment. We should have an official release soon, though.

rkpetersen said:
Joe, Just saw this, please count me interested as well. Just set up my seventh Echo Dot yesterday, although I'm not sure dot's enough. ;Smuggrin

Be on the lookout for the release announcement

DLHDesign · Mar 30, 2018

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?22434-Product-development-notice

"VOICE IS COMING!
In other product development news, we have something great to announce. At RAP we will be showing off a beta version of Apex Fusion that has Amazon Alexa support. We plan on making voice control and IoT integration a key feature of the Apex going forward and this is the first step. We are starting with Alexa and then from there we will be examining the viability of Apple Homekit (Siri) as well as other voice tech out there. We will be demoing Alexa control and feedback at the booth at RAP so be sure to stop on by for a demo. Voice integration is not just a gimmick, there are some really helpful ways it takes your Apex to the next level and delivers on our promise of “less hassle”. And yes, it will work with an Apex Classic and Apex Jr."

nero0762 · Mar 31, 2018

DLHDesign said:
https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?22434-Product-development-notice

"VOICE IS COMING!
In other product development news, we have something great to announce. At RAP we will be showing off a beta version of Apex Fusion that has Amazon Alexa support. We plan on making voice control and IoT integration a key feature of the Apex going forward and this is the first step. We are starting with Alexa and then from there we will be examining the viability of Apple Homekit (Siri) as well as other voice tech out there. We will be demoing Alexa control and feedback at the booth at RAP so be sure to stop on by for a demo. Voice integration is not just a gimmick, there are some really helpful ways it takes your Apex to the next level and delivers on our promise of “less hassle”. And yes, it will work with an Apex Classic and Apex Jr."

Is it safe to assume that this is based off the original poster's project?

Joe Carioti · Mar 31, 2018

nero0762 said:
Is it safe to assume that this is based off the original poster's project?

Yep! I'm working on polishing the core commands at the moment.

DLHDesign · Mar 31, 2018

Congrats @Joe Carioti - this is a significant step forward. Great job!

nero0762 · Mar 31, 2018

Joe Carioti said:
Yep! I'm working on polishing the core commands at the moment.

Congrats, Joe!

Joe Carioti · Apr 12, 2018

Here's a short demo from RAP Orlando (go to 13:30 if it doesn't start from there already):

shahin · Apr 14, 2018

This is really cool... waiting for the official release... Do we still have a date?

AquaDaddy · Apr 17, 2018

Super excited about this as well. I love my Echo's and Apex, using them together will be awesome. Very cool.

dtownsend001 · Apr 29, 2018

This is so awesome Joe, can't wait for it to be released as I've had an Echo Show next to my Aquarium in the Living Room for over a year now. Also have other Echo devices in every room and it would be so cool to be able to use it for my Aquarium as it is one of the few " dumb things" left in my house that aren't already smart controlled.