Whole-home automation meets voice control
Maybe you already know about Amazon Echo. Amazon Echo is a smart home appliance that can also act as a portable speaker. It’s a 10-inch tall cylindrical device that is designed to stand in a commonly occupied area of the home, such as a kitchen. Add in the additional Dot 2.0, the auxiliary hockey puck sized devices throughout your home, and you can access the Echo from anywhere.
The Echo is Wi-fi enabled and can stream music from certain music services from your smart phone, acting as a Bluetooth speaker. It is also voice controlled and can do cool stuff like answer questions (think: Siri), read the news, report on traffic or weather conditions, make to-do lists and more. Think of the Amazon Echo as a smart phone for the home, all voice controlled.
Now, meet Amazon Alexa.
She is your ticket to complete, voice-controlled home automation. Alexa is the Amazon Echo’s pre-installed personal virtual assistant, which is capable of listening and responding to commands.
Think of Alexa like this: We’ve reached Jetson-like technology in our homes!
The thing that we most excited about is Alexa’s capabilities to manage your home. Amazon Alexa can now integrate with Control4, providing the homeowner with the convenience of whole home automation through simple and intuitive voice commands that can activate smart home scenes and control individual devices. Since Control4 already has the ability to integrate with over 9,000 popular lighting, audio, video, security and comfort products, this is a huge win for smart home automation.
Ever walk through the door into a dark house with your hands full? Now, all you need to do is say “Alexa, turn on Welcome” and the entry way lights up and the door locks itself behind you. When it’s time to turn in for the night, “Alexa, turn on Bedtime” will shut off every light in the house, lock the doors and arm the alarm. There are many different settings you can program to fully utilize Amazon Alexa in your home.
If you have Control4 and you want to start using Amazon Alexa, you can quickly access your Control4 user account to set up some very basic commands. However, to fully integrate it into your system, we’ll need to program the system specific to your home. This will give you full control over everything in your home, from task lighting to window shades to door locks, and of course, home entertainment.
Whether you have a Control4 system already in place, or you are ready to pull the trigger on full home automation, contact us to get started with Amazon Alexa!
Home System Solutions takes pride in being Central Oregon’s leader in smart home automation, theater and entertainment. Contact us to visit our Bend showroom or get an initial consultation. Email us or call 541-610-7915 for more information.