Configuration with Alexa Echo Dot

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

@Maximo

What I have found recently is that a lot of people are trying to resolve issues they have come across or put in solutions to a problem they want to fix but don’t really understand fully what openHAB or Home Automation can do.

This is commonly called the XYProblem. http://xyproblem.info/

@Alexa_Dot

I’m new with using forum as a problem solving tool. I need to get some perspective how to open things systematically. Bear with me.

Here is a good place to start with that.

@Alexa_Dot

I am trying to get Alexa to greet me when some device with a known MAC address is detected ie. my phone in this case. Earlier the problem was totally that I didn’t at all understand how openHAB works.

Step back a bit. Why MAC address? Why not IP address or some combination of sensor readings? See Generic Presence Detection for how you would combine multiple sensor readings into one “presence” Swtich.

@Alexa_Dot

Now I’ve got the rule to work so the syntax is not my main problem anymore.
I want to find a way to automatically detect my phone. Maybe the way to go is to implement some simple hcitool script and check if it is possible to get openhab rules work with it.

Have you searched for “presence detection” on the forum? There are hundreds of postings a good portion of which are tutorials.