Google assistant routine to trigger AutoVoice profile event

[Peter Howells]

I have a Tasker profile that's triggered by AutoVoice receiving the command "run a test".

When I say "Hey Google ask AutoVoice to run a test" it works as expected.

I've also created an Assistant routine that responds to "Hey Google run a test" with a "try adding your own" action that reads "Ask AutoVoice to run a test". The routine gets triggered as expected, but there's no response from Tasker and AutoVoice.

What am I doing wrong? What type of action should I be using in my Google Assistant routine? Do I need to set something up in Tasker and/or AutoVoice to react to commands sent from Assistant routines?

(Using Android 9)

Thanks

[Rich D]

I have done the exact same in the past and it sounds like you have done everything correct. The only thing I would try is changing the actual command words 'run a test' to something like 'test my task' . 

Are you using a home speaker or is this all with a mobile device?

If you want to try something that allows you get any command without using autovoice or having to add awkward statements so you could simply say 'hey Google run a test'  or even 'hey Google run a test with frank'  -  frank being a variable.

Try this new approach.... 

https://taskernet.com/shares/?user=AS35m8lnbGhm%2F58jHvsiqVNumDAJZVkcfcE7gQxfcMjrFBCkp6sNKYf3YiK9WVWZBoDf&id=Project%3AActivity+Monitor+Shaer+V3

[Rich D]

Oops sorry.. that last link was the actual project.  Here is a link to the explanation of the project.. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/lny3zb/get_any_google_assistant_command_from_any_device/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

[Peter Howells]

It's a mobile phone, Huawei FIG-LX1, and I've tried a few different commands, all with the same (lack of) result.

[Peter Howells]

Thanks, I may have to check that out. I am hoping, though, that having paid for AutoVoice I can get it to work as advertised.

[Rich D]

Have you double checked that your command (including the way AutoVoice or Auto Voice) is identical with what is shown when you give the command directly to the assistant as apposed to what you have written in the routine?

[Peter Howells]

Progress! Your post prompted me to check for trailing and leading spaces (not the cause) but it also nudged me into noticing…

It works if I don't use any spaces in the command the Google Assistant routine sends to AutoVoice. So "Ask AutoVoice to run a test" doesn't work, but "Ask AutoVoice to runatest" does, even though "Hey Google ask AutoVoice to run a test" does work (provided I set the AutoVoice event in the Tasker profile to recognise the commands with and without spaces, of course).

I haven't seen anything anywhere in the tutorials or the in-app notes, though, so I'm sure it's not supposed work like this.

Thanks, Rich

[Rich D]

Strange. I tried your 'Run a test' command and got the exact same results as you. I could not even get it to work without the spaces. It had no issues when I changed it to 'Start a test'.  If you click the info icon in the autovoice context there are a few options like this..  

Advanced->Condition Name

Sometimes a voice command won't match a command filter that you were expecting it to. To see why that is happening you can enable System Logs and check the AutoVoice logs. If you set a name herea new tab in the logs will be created just for this profile, which will allow you to much more easily see what's going on with it.

If you really wanted to dive into it. 

This is one of the reasons I came up with the approach I listed earlier. It takes out the middleman and gets the command directly from Google. 

Good to hear you got it working...

[Peter Howells]

Well, I guess I've been trying to use commands that are too sensibly worded.

Just been experimenting, and I found that an assistant routine that goes "Ask AutoVoice to boggle blink" works fine, while in one that goes "Ask AutoVoice to do something" only the word "something" gets sent.

Google Assistant seems to be rather too supercilious about how it looks at verbs. I'm just going to have to get creative with how I word my commands.

Many thanks for you help, Rich. I now seem to be on my way.

[Rich D]

Google Assistant seems to be rather too supercilious about how it looks at verbs. I'm just going to have to get creative with how I word my commands.

I remember having similar issues when setting up a few applets with IFTTT... 

I am not sure if it is out of beta yet but Tasker does have its own google assistant interaction.  See here..

https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/l5bfrj/dev_tasker_51114_now_publicly_available/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Many thanks for you help, Rich. I now seem to be on my way.

Happy to help. 

[Rich D]

Forgot to clarify.. The new tasker assistant interaction will only work on the device tasker is installed on. In other words you could not run a task by asking the home speaker. The autovoice set up you are using now does allow you to use other devices like the home speaker. 

[Peter Howells]

Ha!

That does exactly what I was looking for. If I'd known about it a day earlier I'd've saved myself the price of AutoVoice :)

Cheers, Rich, you've been a great help.

[Rich D]

That does exactly what I was looking for. If I'd known about it a day earlier I'd've saved myself the price of AutoVoice :)

Yea. The Google interaction is the only thing I ever used autovoice for and now I no longer need it. 

The good news is your money  still went to a great cause. The developer for all the auto app plug ins is now the developer for tasker as well and is doing a super human job of adding new features at a cheetah a fast pase  that honestly make other development "teams" look like uncaring slugs.. 

You will most likely run into the same command challenges.