Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Alexa will soon help you make popcorn with voice-controlled microwaves

Jenny McGrath
By

alexa microwave
At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Alexa was showing up in all sorts of devices. Ahead of CES 2018, Amazon’s voice assistant is prepping to do more in your kitchen by adding voice control to your microwave. As part of an expanded Smart Home Skills API, developers will be able to integrate microwave-centric voice commands into devices.

Some of the examples Amazon gives in its developer blog include, “Alexa, defrost three pounds of chicken,” and “Alexa, microwave for 50 seconds on high.” If your microwave has a much-used preset, you will be able to turn it on with a voice command, too. Manufacturers such as General Electric have already made some wall ovens compatible with Alexa. While being able to ask it to set your oven to 350 degrees while your hands are messy is convenient, being able to say, “Alexa, set the microwave to 80 percent power for three minutes” means fewer buttons to press. However, this isn’t something we would necessarily want to do from the other room, because if Alexa mishears us and cooks our Bagel Bites for 30 minutes, no one is going to be happy. (Honestly, though, don’t put your Bagel Bites in the microwave. Only an oven or toaster oven will give them that desired crispiness.)

Related Videos

According to Amazon, Whirlpool plans to have the skill ready for its connected microwaves soon, and GE Appliances, Kenmore, LG, and Samsung are all beefing up their Alexa cooking skills as well.

Related

Meanwhile, the June Oven now works via voice control, thanks to its custom Alexa skill. The countertop and built-in versions of the smart oven uses cameras to identify what food you’re making (it can differentiate about 25 at the moment) and set the cooking parameters accordingly. For foods it can’t peg, presumably you will be able to ask Alexa to relay the information to June, and it will use its sensors and machine learning to take care of the rest. Again, we would want to ensure — even with June’s cameras — that our Echo heard “apple pie” and not “rib-eye.”

Many manufacturers start off weary of smart control for ovens, for fear that people would start preheating while away from home, forgetting they left a sweater in there. Many still require you to push a button before you can control the oven with your phone. Since running an empty microwave isn’t a great idea, we will likely see similar safeguards when voice control comes to the appliances. Amazon says it will be up to the manufacturer whether to enable remote-start functionality.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Roundup of pets messing with Google and Alexa
A dog and his human companions surrounding the Petcube Bites 2.

Pets are part of our smart homes, too, and it’s no surprise that they can get involved in how our smart tech works. That can lead to surprising results, especially with our voice assistants and smart displays, like those from Google and Amazon. While pets have their own smart devices that are made for special types of interaction, the funniest moments are often when they start noticing controls that are meant for humans. Here’s some of the situations we’re talking about!
Parrots learning how to order from Alexa
@maxtheafricangrey2000♬ original sound - Max Franklin

There are many cases of parrots, especially African Grey parrots, learning to talk to Alexa and experimenting with the responses they get. They even order food and other items. It’s incredible the way they learn to imitate their owners to get a specific result, and Alexa’s predictive algorithms make it all too easy to add items to a shopping list or an Amazon order.

Read more
Can you train a parrot to use Alexa, and should you?
Official glimpse of Nothing Phone 1 with a parrot sitting on top of phone.

We’ve talked about the silly things Alexa can be used for, as well as how sometimes very young children can unwittingly use Alexa to cause mischief, including ordering things from Amazon. But what about pets that can talk -- specifically, if you’ve got an inquisitive parrot in your house? Do you have to worry about it activating Alexa and potentially causing havoc?

If you’re a parrot owner, you probably won’t be surprised that this could definitely be a cause for concern. Parrots can learn to speak human language clear enough to activate Alexa on devices like Echos. Here’s everything we know about what these clever birds have managed to do.
Can you train a parrot to use Alexa?
Parrot turns Christmas lights on with Alexa

Read more
Fluid One gives you point-and-click control of your smart home, from your smartphone
Fluid One app showing the AR room map and devices.

Ever wished you could use your smartphone to control your smart home, beyond just pulling up an app to turn something on or off? We're now starting to see companies create actual functionality around the Matter initiative. Fluid, a relative newcomer to the smart home field, is building a service on top of Matter to allow you to control smart devices around your home simply by pointing your phone at the device.

Fluid calls this new service Fluid One. You can point your phone at a device, and it will automatically and immediately show you options to control said device. The service also allows for location-based automation and gesture controls. For example, imagine walking around your home and having lights automatically turning on or off depending on how close you are to them.

Read more