After creating private API.AI agent, I can test it using the simulator. But is it possible to test it in Android phones ?
Not yet. But you can use the "Agent Page" under Integration in API.AI to give you a web view you can use from the phone. Easy to share too!
As given in https://docs.api.ai/docs/sdks API.AI has provided support for many platforms and using it we can access our private agent.
i.e as given in https://github.com/api-ai/api-ai-android-sdk#getting_started , I created android app by providing access_token detail of my agent and now I can pass the request via my android phone; similarly i used node.js and can make request to my API.AI agent from Linux PC
You can do this now that Google has pushed the Assistant to the Google Pixel, Nexus 6p, and Nexus 5x. No other phone currently can use the assistant.
Edit 4/17/17: Upon successfully deploying my own agent I was expecting to be able to use it on my phone after being able to test and preview it on my phone. However it was not working so I contacted their support and got the following answer:
Sorry for the inconvenience, but Actions on Google are not currently
supported on any device other than Google home. The functionality you
are referring to was the result of a bug that allowed access across
multiple devices to a subset of users, that bug was patched and that
is why you lost the functionality. Google is planning to make Actions
on Google available across multiple devices, but as per policy, we
don't comment on timelines for releases in support.
Related
I am currently developing an updated version of a voice app that it was previously developed with Google Actions console as a conversational app. However, when started to create a new project for this updated app, a banner says that Conversational apps will be sunsetted on June 13th.
Reading through the documentation, it is not clear to me how to develop now that this options will not be available in the future. Among the options, App Actions and Dialogflow CX might be the route for development. However, my app to be developed reqquires integration with smart devices such as Google nest Hub and Google nest mini for interaction.
It seems that App Actions might not be the solution because it adds voice capabilities to an existing Android App, which I am not sure that will work with Smart devices directly.
On the other hand, dialogflow CX looks to be focused on chatbox, i.e. based on text. Again, I am not sure if using Dialogflow CX will be able to provide an appp that uses voice interactions in smart devices.
In addition to these options, I also read about Dialogflow ES, Cloud-to-Cloud for smart for Google Home, Content Actions, and Media Actions. It does not look like either of these solutions might be a replacement to Google Actions. For example, I think smart home is not the option because I am not looking to interact with home devices besides google nest hub.
I hope anybody can help and help me understand development path or lead me to information that I might be missing. Thank you
It sounds like you are looking to create a new version of a conversational app that was previously developed using the Google Actions console, but are now facing the sunset of the conversational apps feature on June 13th.
One option that you may want to consider is Dialogflow CX, which is a platform for building and managing natural language conversational experiences. Dialogflow CX is built on top of Dialogflow ES, and is designed for more complex and large-scale conversational apps.
It allows you to create a conversation flow using a visual editor, and supports integration with various platforms including Google Assistant, Alexa, and WhatsApp.
Regarding the integration with smart devices like Google Nest Hub and Google Nest Mini, you can use the Google Assistant Actions API to build custom actions that can be invoked by users through the Google Assistant on these devices. This API allows you to define a conversation flow and handle user inputs, and it can be integrated with Dialogflow CX to handle natural language understanding and generation.
App Actions, on the other hand, are a way to surface your app's functionality through the Google Assistant on Android devices, and it's not a replacement for Google Actions.
Cloud-to-Cloud for smart home, Content Actions, and Media Actions are more specific solutions for different use cases, for example, providing actions for smart home devices, providing actions for media content and etc.
In summary, Dialogflow CX along with the Google Assistant Actions API seems to be the most relevant solution for your use case. It allows you to build natural language conversational experiences that can be integrated with smart devices like Google Nest Hub and Google Nest Mini.
It's worth checking the official documentation and tutorials for more information about Dialogflow CX, the Google Assistant Actions API, and how to integrate them. Also, you may want to reach out to Google support team for more specific guidance for your case.
I am developing Google Actions for Google Assistant. Is there an emulator of Google Assistant for Linux available? I believe this would be easier during development, instead of having to use my phone all the time.
I know there is https://console.actions.google.com, but I am not sure if this has all capabilities built in. Should Google Actions (such as cards, suggestion clips, carousel, ...) also work here?
You should be able to do almost all of your development using the actions simulator: https://developers.google.com/actions/tools/simulator
There are a few exceptions dealing with cross device scenarios and intent invocation for Android.
The simulator is better than developing on a phone since it provides detailed logging and request/response JSON payloads.
I am currently working on a IoT device to control lights. This device is implemented using FreeRTOS.
I am little confused how to provide Google Home integration with this device, could someone shed some light on this.
You can use the Smart Home API. The Google Assistant works with a webhook, sending commands to SYNC, QUERY, and EXECUTE on that URL. You will then need to send these commands to your device.
Setup happens through the Google Assistant app, where users must link with your OAuth server.
Here is a sample project for Smart Home, using virtual devices.
I am new to google home. I had an experience in Amazon Alexa custom skill development. In Alexa, I had deployed my codebase in lambda function and also test my custom skill using actual Alexa device register with my email id.
So, Now I need to develop similar skill in google home device. Till now, I didn't get any good tutorials.
Is it possible to create & test Google Home app like Alexa skill?
The steps you go through to develop a Google Home action or app are very similar to creating an Alexa skill. There are a couple of differences, but logically they are the same.
If you use a NLP system such as Dialogflow (which is strongly suggested), you build the suggested phrases that the system responds to and the Intents they correspond to. You would specify your webhook as part of building these phrases. If you don't wish to use an NLP, you can specify the initial Intent phrases using the Actions SDK and specifying the configuration as part of a .json file. Other actions you'd do in the Alexa console are similar to what you'd do in the Assistant console.
You can deploy your Action on any public server that accepts HTTPS connections. This can include AWS Lambda with an AWS API Gateway trigger, or a Firebase Function, or a web server you more directly control that has a valid SSL certificate. This webhook would get a JSON body and needs to send back a valid JSON response. Google has libraries for node.js to help with this.
Google has a relatively full-featured simulator which you can use to test your Action. Once it is available in the simulator, it is also immediately available on every device attached to that account. You can permit other accounts to the project as well and, once they have activated it through the simulator, it is available on all their devices as well.
A full set of documentation is available at https://developers.google.com/actions/. It includes links to sample code, and you can find more step-by-step codelabs at https://codelabs.developers.google.com/?cat=Assistant
If you're familiar with how to develop skills for Alexa you might want to check out the jovo-framework. It makes it pretty easy to create skills that work for both Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
Here is a good starter template and walk-through that will get you going. https://github.com/rmtuckerphx/ask-cli-jovo-starter
The last two weeks I've been been writing a chrome app in order to update a microcontroller using the chrome.serial API. Now beeing almost ready with the main functionality and trying to publish the application the web store says "The app runs only on Chrome OS".
I'm afraid during development I missed the hint that chrome apps will no longer be supported. Unfortunately I can't easily port it to an extension or progressive web app since the app depends on the chrome.serial.* API
Does somebody know how to publish the app for Windows/Mac/Linux anyhow?
Or maybe how to port to a native app using the chrome.serial api?
Thanks
You can continue using the same Chrome App codebase with NW.js, but you will need to distribute to those platforms another way.
https://nwjs.io/blog/chrome-apps-support/
https://nwjs.io/blog/whats-new-in-0.13/