Orvibo S20 Alexa skill

Looking around, I saw Alexa skills to control the Orvibo S20 switch which need a device that's always on in the network.

My skill was created to get around that, and control the S20 directly. It also allows you to configure a timer to automatically shut the S20 down after X minutes (not through the S20's internal timers though).

The code can be found here: https://github.com/itaybia/OrviboS20AlexaSkill.

Everything runs on AWS using lambda, and it also allows for winding a timer to shut down the S20. NOTICE: everything, including the shut down timer requires an external internet connection, since this skill doesn't use the S20's internal timer, but one from AWS.

The guide below was mostly copied from this link https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit/alexa-skill-quick-start-tutorial. I recommend using both, Amazon's has screen shots.

Step 1 (Create the IAM policy and role for the timer feature access permissions)

Creating the IAM policies for the Lambda function:

1. Navigate to IAM in your management console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home#/roles
2. Select "Policies" in the sidebar.
3. Click "Create Policy".
4. Select "Create Your Own Policy".
5. Enter an appropriate policy name and description like "wiwo_timer".
6. Paste the contents of \AlexaSkillKit_Code\policy.txt
   • Notice that you need to edit the "Resource" item after you create the lambda function below with the TIMER_ARN.
7. Click "Create Policy".
8. Select "Create Your Own Policy".
9. Enter policy name "lambda_logging"
10. Paste the contents of \AlexaSkillKit_Code\logs_policy.txt

Creating the IAM role for the Lambda function:

1. Select "Role" in the sidebar.
2. Click "Create New Role".
3. Enter an appropriate role name ("wiwo_timer") and click "Next Step".
4. Select "AWS Lambda" within the AWS Service Roles.
5. Change the filter to "Customer Managed", check the box of the 2 policies you created above, and click "Next Step".
6. Click "Create Role".

Step 2 (Create your AWS Lambda function that your skill will use)

1. Download or clone my OrviboS20AlexaSkill github project https://github.com/itaybia/OrviboS20AlexaSkill
2. Gather the information about your Orvibo S20 socket.
   • Connect the S20 to the power
   • Find the S20's MAC address and IP:
     • In your router, you can probably find the devices connected to it. The S20 is probably going to be written as: HF-LPB100.
     • On a computer in the same network, you can run: "ping HF-LPB100", and see the IP that was resolved. Then run "arp -a", and find the MAC address corresponding to the IP.
   • Setup port forwarding on your router to reach the S20's IP from above, and UDP port 10000. Remember which external port you configured. If you're already using the Wiwo app from the internet, then you probably already have the external port configured to 10000. If you need help with configuring port forwarding, look here http://www.wikihow.com/Set-Up-Port-Forwarding-on-a-Router.
   • Get Your External IP, https://whatismyipaddress.com/ or a hostname that you have for your External IP (through noip, dyndns, etc.).
3. If you do not already have an account on AWS, go to Amazon Web Services and create an account.
4. Log in to the AWS Management Console and navigate to AWS Lambda.
5. Click the region drop-down in the upper-right corner of the console and select either US East (N. Virginia) or EU (Ireland). Lambda functions for Alexa skills must be hosted in either the US East (N. Virginia) or EU (Ireland) region.
6. If you have no Lambda functions yet, click Get Started Now. Otherwise, click Create a Lambda Function.
7. Enter a name for the lambda function. "wiwo" for example.
8. Under Runtime, select Python 2.7.
9. Select "choose an existing role", and below that select the role you created in Step 1.
10. Add an "Alexa skills kit" trigger.
11. Add a "CloudWatch Events" trigger.
    1. Under Rule name give something like "wiwo_timer"
    2. Rule type should be "Schedule expression"
    3. Under Schedule expression write: cron(50 22 28 12 ? 2000). Which is essentially a time in the past, just as a placeholder.
    4. Disable the trigger.
    5. Click Add.
    6. Remember the event's arn (let's call it TIMER_ARN).
       • Copy the TIMER_ARN into the resource field in the wiwo_timer policy created in step 1.6
12. Click the name of your lambda function (from step 2.7 above). Under the Lambda function code section (leave as Edit code inline and then copy in my code. The code can be found under \AlexaSkillKit_Code\lambda_function.py You will need to edit some variables in the code.
    • WIWO_mac: Is the MAC address of your S20 as you found in step 2.
    • WIWO_port: Your External IP as found in step 2.
    • WIWO_ip: The external port which was configured in the router's port forwarding in step 2.
    • DEFAULT_TIMEOUT: if positive, then when turning the S20 on, it will automatically turn off after this many minutes.
    • WIWO_CLOUDWATCH_TIMEOUT_EVENT_ARN: the TIMER_ARN from step 2.11.6.
    • CHECK_APP_ID: true if you want to add security and allow the function to be used only from your alexa skill, according to the ALEXA_SKILL_APP_ID below.
    • ALEXA_SKILL_APP_ID: if CHECK_APP_ID is true, then this ID will be matched against intent for this lambda function. You will be able to fill it after we create the skill in step 3.
13. You can test your function by using the Configure test event. Change the name of Hello World as needed and pasted the contents of \AlexaSkillKit_Code\OrviboS20Lambda_TurnOnWithTimeoutTestEvent.xml and then Save and Test.
    • If all works you should see the socket turn on, and then turn off after 15 minutes.
    • You should probably set CHECK_APP_ID in the lambda function to False to test this. At least until you create the Alexa skill and have the actual App ID.
14. Notice the ARN written on the top right of the page. We'll call it LAMBDA_ARN. It should be something like: arn:aws:lambda:-1:#:function:wiwo.

Step 3 (Create your Alexa Skill and link your Lambda function)

1. Sign in to the Amazon developer portal. If you haven’t done so already, you’ll need to create a free account. https://developer.amazon.com/edw/home.html#/
2. From the top navigation bar, select Alexa.
3. Under Alexa Skills Kit, choose Get Started >.
4. Choose Add a New Skill.
5. Name your skill. This is the name displayed to users in the Alexa app. Wiwo, Kitchen socket, Orvibo S20 are all good choices.
6. Create an invocation name. This is the word or phrase that users will speak to activate the skill. Something like socket, Kitchen socket, Orvibo S20 and so on (wiwo did not work well for me, Alexa did not really understand it). Click Save.
7. Choose Next to continue to development of the new skill.
8. In the Intent Schema box, paste the JSON code from \AlexaSkillKit_Code\IntentSchema.txt
9. Skip over the Custom Slot Types section.
10. Under Sample Utterances paste in contents of \AlexaSkillKit_Code\Utterances.txt
11. Choose Next and wait until the interaction model finishes loading, in no more than a few seconds
12. Select the Endpoint AWS Lambda ARN then paste your LAMBDA_ARN code from step 2.12. Then choose Next.
13. Under Service Simulator you can test the skill. Write what you would have said to alexa to operate the skill. Logs can be found here https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch
14. There is no need to Publish the skill.

Examples:

• "Alexa, Tell INVOCATION_NAME to turn on"
• "Alexa, Tell INVOCATION_NAME to turn on for 15 minutes"
• "Alexa, Tell INVOCATION_NAME to open"
• "Alexa, Tell INVOCATION_NAME to stop"

WOL Proxy - Wake On Lan through a router

I usually put my PC to sleep to conserve power. But I also sometimes need to access it from afar. In order to do this, I use WOL (Wake On Lan) from my phone over the internet.

The problem with WOL over the internet is that some routers (mine included) do not allow port forwarding of the WOL packet to a broadcast IP on my subnet. And since my PC is asleep, it loses its IP binding. Certain routers can get around this by configuring the ARP table to hold on to the IP, but mine doesn't do that as well.

To tackle the issues above, I developed WOL Proxy which is an app that can be installed on an Android device and forwards/broadcasts incoming WOL packets on the subnet. Since I had an old Android phone lying around the house, I put the app on it, and configured the port forwarding of the WOL to reach the phone. The phone in turn broadcasts the port-forwarded WOL packets and wakes the PC.

Although configuring the port forwarding itself may be difficult in some routers, the app is really easy to configure.

Let me know what you think about the app, or if you think any other features may complement it.