How to create custom Alexa commands for Amazon Echo using IFTTT
Smart Home
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Amazon Echo is a voice activated, cloud connected, smart speaker, with an artificial intelligence named Alexa packed inside.
Along with streaming music and reading headlines and giving you the weather forecast, Alexa has a growing role in the smart home too.
Controlling smart gadgets like.
Philips Hues color changing bulbs and Belkin WeMo switches.
But Amazon Echo also has a channel on IFTTT, a free online automation service that helps you sync it up with web services and other smart home gadgets.
And now you can actually create custom voice commands to control those other gadgets.
Let's show you how to do it.
First, you'll need to set your Amazon Echo up.
Just plug it in and download the Alexa app to your Android or iOS device and you'll be able to walk through the pairing process and just.
In just a couple of minutes.
Next you'll want to go on IFTTT's website, and if you haven't already create an account.
Once you're all signed in you'll be able to activate that Amazon Echo Channel.
Now it's time to craft a recipe that'll have eLecta doing our bidding.
Once you're logged in you're going to want to click on my recipe on the IFTTT home page.
Then click create a recipe.
You'll see the if, this, then, that template.
The if this is the trigger part of the equation.
That's the thing that's going to trigger your recipe, and that's going to be Amazon Echo.
So click on the blue this and then select Amazon Alexa.
That's the channel for Amazon Echo.
You've got a number of different Trigger options.
It can be when the timer goes off or when you add something to your to do list but the one that we want is a specific phrase.
So select say a specific phrase as your trigger.
So for us let's say Alexa trigger my recipe.
So I'm just gonna write my recipe on the computer.
Now that we've got the Amazon Echo trigger set up let's go to the then that side of the equation.
That's gonna be our action, the thing that happens when we tell Alexa trigger my recipe.
For our purposes Let's go with the nest learning thermostat.
I like this one because Amazon Echo isn't a work [INAUDIBLE] nest device.
It doesn't have a custom thermostat integration.
That's where [INAUDIBLE] really shines.
It helps devices that don't normally work together, work together.
I'm going to go with turn the fans on for 15 minutes.
But there's plenty more you can do too.
You can browse through all the channels on it to get some All using Alexa, all things to [INAUDIBLE] I'm Ry Christ for CNet appliances.
[INAUDIBLE]
check out Cnet.com/smartdashhome.
