Thinka, a Dutch tech company with focus on Home Automation, has announced its Thinka-ECHO: A bridge between KNX and Alexa. Alexa is Amazon’s digital assistant which comes with both Amazon Echo and Echo dot, and is available in the US, UK and Germany, but will soon support more languages. Controlling KNX by voice commands will be the next big step in the future of KNX.
Thinka is also working on a bridge to other digital Assistants.
Thinka-ECHO can now be ordered on the Thinka website for €350 excluding VAT. It has an integrated KNX bus connection, and can be powered via the included power adaptor or 12-35Vdc screw terminals. It only takes 70mm of DIN rail space.
Configuration is really easy: connect Thinka to power, KNX-bus and Ethernet. Import your ETS project via Thinka’s built-in web GUI, edit the automatically discovered devices, and enable Thinka as an ‘Alexa Skill’.
Now you can just say: Alexa I’m home! and your house gives you a warm welcome.
Supported device types are:
Switch
Lightbulb (dimming)
Curtains, screens and blinds
Climate (heating, cooling, ventilation)
Sensors such as Humidity, occupation, temperature, etc
More to come.
