The Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot of the fourth generation are receiving an interesting first for the smart home. These speakers with Alexa can now detect people's movement to perform some tasks automatically, such as turning the lights on or off. Functions that, until now, could only be performed by third-party motion sensors.
The feature, available starting this week through an update in the Alexa app, is already present in those smart devices with cameras, such as the Echo Show. These, unlike the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, use the sensor to check for movement in the room. Non-screen speakers, on the other hand, make use of an “inaudible ultrasound wave” , according to The Verge.
That is, the loudspeaker creates a kind of map of the area by emitting a frequency unpredictable to the human ear. It bounces off objects in the room and returns, through the microphone, to the Amazon Echo. When a person enters that space, the speaker is able to detect the variation and act accordingly.
These are the uses of the new Amazon Echo motion sensor
Now, what can a motion sensor built into an Amazon Echo do? Mainly, to activate or deactivate smart devices automatically . In fact, the motion detection function can be configured from the app and we can ask it, for example, to turn on the lights in the living room every time it detects the entrance of a person. Also turn off the Fire TV when someone leaves the room or play music if it detects people nearby. Until now, these actions could only be carried out by third-party motion sensors.
The feature, yes, seems to be limited to the activation and deactivation of devices and music . It is not possible, for example, to adjust the intensity of the lighting based on the natural lighting in that room. It is also not possible to activate a specific mode depending on the time of day.
