Control LED with Voice Commands

Using voice commands to control an LED

Overview :
This project uses Blynk IoT platform and IFTTT Applet to control an LED connected to a NodeMCU via the voice commands. Other voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Siri can also be used, but the process to integrate Siri with IFTTT is a bit different to that of Alexa and Google Assistant.

Demo Video using Google Assistant

Demo Video using Siri

Required Components :

• Mobile Phone - iOS or Android
• NodeMCU - ESP8266
• Resistor - 1K Ohm
• LED - Any colour
• Breadboard and Jumper Wires (Male to Female)

Software Requirements :

• Arduino IDE
• Blynk IoT Platform Account
• IFTTT Account

Blynk IoT Platform Tutorial :
Watching a video is much fun, rather than reading through an article. Hence, go through this playlist by Techiesms to understand and learn the basics of Blynk IoT Platform and create your first LED blinking project. It is better if you go though the playlist, especially the First Project and APIs videos before proceeding further, as the integration of Assistant and IFTTT uses concepts from those videos.

After creating your first LED blinking project, it's now time to move on a step further and integrate it with Google Assistant. Too tired to code the entire stuff from scratch? Just download the Compiled Binary file from GitHub Releases along with the source code and you are good to go!

IFTTT Integration :
Go to IFTTT website. Create an account and login if you are not already a user. Then proceed to creating a new Applet, by clicking on Create button on the top right corner. Follow the steps below to setup IFTTT with Google Assistant.

• Click on the If This section and type Google Assistant into the search bar. It will then ask you to integrate the Google Assistant Service by logging in to your Google Account. Make sure you login with the account that you use in your mobile phone.
• Next select Say a simple phrase option.
• Type in the voice command that you would like to use, and any other ways to say it. Then click on Create Trigger.
• Now click on to the Then That option and search for Webhook service.
• Once the Webhook Service is activated, you will be asked to fill in a URL. Type in the URL of the API for your Blynk Device. To find out your own API link, watch this video
• Select Get method and leave the rest as they are.
• Select Create Action.
• Finally, save your Applet.

You'll need to create 2 applets, one for turning on and the other for turning off the LED. Give a few minutes for the Applet to configure and then open your mobile phone. Try saying the phrase to the Assistant and voila, your LED is now being controlled by voice commands. Similar steps can be followed for Amazon Alexa too. Just replace the Google Assistant search with Alexa and then proceed with the next steps.

Update : As of August 31st, 2022 Google Assistant integration with IFTTT is not so direct. Setup up new applets using the new Google Assistant v2, and then head over to Google Home app, and then select third party integrations. From there, you can select the IFTTT app. Login in the next prompt with your IFTTT account. Now, you can try the newly setup Applet with Google Assistant and it works fine.

Setting up Voice Control using Siri :
Setting up Siri for voice commands is not as straightforward as Google Assistant, since Siri is not available as a direct service in IFTTT. Hence, we use the iOS Shortcuts app in addition to IFTTT. Download the IFTTT iOS application from the App Store and then follow the below steps to create a new Shortcut.

• Create an IFTTT Applet, but for the trigger part, select Button Widget instead of Google Assistant.
• Use the same Blynk API URL and other settings and create an applet.
• No head over to the shortcuts app and create a new shortcut.
• Now add a new action, and select IFTTT app.
• Select, Trigger Applet option from the selection menu.
• Now choose the previously created applet from the selection menu.
• Name the shortcut with an appropriate phrase. This phrase is used to execute voice command in Siri.
• Now save the Shortcut.

Voice Commands run in Siri take more time to run than in the Google Assistant, as Siri needs to process the command through Shortcuts app too in addition to IFTTT.

Versions :

• v1.0.0 - Original Prototype version by Bharadwaj Routhu using NodeMCU - ESP8266
• v1.0.1 - Incorporated changes to IFTTT and Google Assistant Integrations. No change in the source code.

And That's it!!
If you like this project, please star the repository. Visit my GitHub Profile for many such projects on IoT, Cloud Computing, Processing IDE and other Embedded Development boards.