In a smart home, electrical gadgets, including the television, can be controlled by speech or gesture. Unfortunately, most televisions lack this capability. A Fire TV Stick is required to use this feature, however, it only provides limited TV access.
Consequently, here is an amazing IoT project to create an Alexa IoT TV controller that will fix the issue. Using Wi-Fi, the technology connects Alexa to an IoT device. The IoT gadget gets commands from Alexa to activate the IR LED for set-top box or television control.
The Alexa IoT TV controller is not limited to controlling only televisions. You can use it to control any IR remote-controlled gadget. Sounds appealing? Gather your equipment and let’s get started on this excellent IoT project.
Go to FilesPreferencesPaste the URL to install the ESP8266 board in Arduino IDE. Install the board by navigating to ToolsBoard ManagersSearch esp8266 in the Arduino IDE.
Installing the espalexa library in Arduino IDE will enable Alexa to operate IoT devices that have been added to the Alexa app. Install the IR remote library to enable decoding of the hex code for transmission to the television.
Coding
Two codes must be written: one for ESP8266-01, which will serve as an Internet of Things (IoT) device for Alexa, and the other for Arduino, which will trigger the IR LED to control the television. Create the code for controlling the TV with Alexa using the espalexa library. It also allows lighting gadgets to be added to Alexa. However, remember to set the function for transferring control commands to Arduino in order to control the television rather than the lights.
Fig. 10: Loop function for Arduino
Esp8266-01 code
Initialize the espalexa library before adding the appropriate device(s) to the code so that Alexa receives the function of the TV remote’s individual buttons.
Since espalexa cannot be made to function as a remote device, the following workaround must be used instead. Create a function for light that will activate the TV’s infrared (IR) LED and allow you to operate it with an IR remote. For instance, write a function named Light 1 in the code for the “on” button. Continue adding 13 to 14 different functions, such as Light 1 through Light 13, to execute more processes.
- Set the serial baud rate to either 9600 or 115200 in the setup function to transmit commands to Arduino successfully.
- Create a loop function for configuring the functionality of devices like Light 1, Light 2, etc.
- When Alexa receives a command, it will activate the Light 1, Light 2, etc. functionalities associated with a particular connected device, such as a TV remote. These functions relate to commands such as increasing/decreasing the volume, turning the television on/off, changing the station, selecting a favorite channel, etc.
- Arduino code. Write the Arduino code to retrieve commands from espalexa and then activate the IR LED to function as a TV remote.
Conclusion
I hope all of you have understood how to design DIY: Control TV With Alexa IoT TV Controller. We MATHA ELECTRONICS will be back soon with more informative blogs soon.