Voice assistants are increasingly used in Europe. According to the National Institute of Statistics, four in ten adults use home automation devices at home, although few make the most of it. There are multiple uses for these speakers, from the most practical for controlling home automation to the most fun.
Among the most popular brands, Amazon stands out above all, which offers a multitude of models with or without screen, and several times a year it tends to offer them at very aggressive prices. But there is a little-known but very useful function.
This is presence detection, supplied as standard on many models, which uses an infrared system to detect the presence of a person near the device, allowing certain actions to be triggered if configured via the Alexa application on the mobile. This can be used to turn on a light when you are nearby, but also to ensure that Let us know if anyone is home and we’re not there.
Intruder detection
The detection mode may vary depending on the device type. Some use cameras, others use sounds, etc. But to configure a smart speaker to notify you, the process is still the same. The only thing you need is to have the Alexa app installed, which will be mandatory when you have an Amazon Echo.
Inside we have to go to the section Routines. There we must select the symbol + from top right. After changing the name to the one that seems most appropriate to us, we must select in the section When what should activate the action. In this case we have to go to Digital home Yes select the speaker in question.
People detection in the Alexa app
Now we need to select the option People have been detected. And click Next. In the section Alexa will do the following, you must choose the option Send push notifications, and write what we want to appear in this notification. Also the speaker can be asked to say a sentence out loudto scare away intruders.
To test that it works, simply save the routine and leave the room where the speaker is. We enter in a few seconds and we should receive a notification on our mobile. If we don’t want this to always be active You can temporarily deactivate the routine in the mobile application, in the Routines section. We click on the newly created one and on the deactivation button next to the name.
