Amazon Alexa will soon let users control ovens and microwaves

Could Alexa be the next big thing in 2018? Well, it looks like Amazon is putting efforts to make the Voice Assistant a revolutionary product and service for consumers and besides the company wants to make its Alexa powered Echo devices available for all the rooms in a consumer's house. As such the company is already offering its Echo lineup in different form factors.

Having said that, Amazon has now announced an interesting use case or feature for Alexa. Users might soon be able to use Amazon Alexa to start cooking or heating food in a microwave. Yes, you heard that right. Amazon has just announced that it is adding microwave and oven control features to its smart assistant. Moreover, Amazon has said that support for other cooking appliances will also be added later.

"Customers have now connected tens of millions of smart home devices to Alexa, including cameras, door locks, lights, entertainment systems, and thermostats. Today we are excited to introduce cooking capabilities as part of the Smart Home Skill API. Now you can build skills to enable customers in the US to control their microwave ovens using Alexa. Support for other cooking devices, such as conventional ovens, is coming soon. Cooking capabilities will also be available in other countries soon," Amazon has stated.

This move comes as Amazon believes that customers are increasingly using voice user interfaces (VUIs) as a hands-free way to manage their lives and hands-free control could especially be valuable when cooking.

So with the built-in cooking device controls in the Smart Home Skill API, users will now find it easier to control their cloud-connected microwave. Instead of pressing multiple buttons to enable advanced microwave features, users can simply use their voices. For example, a user can say "Alexa, defrost three pounds of chicken" or "Alexa, microwave for 50 seconds on high."

Initially, there are four new capability interfaces in the Smart Home Skill API and it includes Alexa.Cooking, Alexa.Cooking.TimeController, Alexa.TimeHoldController, and Alexa.CookingPresetController. Users can leverage these interfaces today for microwaves and for appliances that support preset cooking. The interfaces are designed for future extensibility as support for more cooking devices becomes available the company has revealed.

To make this a success Amazon is also working with a handful of partners or developers to be precise, but it is yet to be seen as to how quickly the support will roll out.

"Whirlpool has created an Alexa skill leveraging these new cooking capabilities in the Smart Home Skill API for its connected microwaves and expects to launch it soon. The skill enables customers to easily configure, start, and operate their connected Whirlpool microwaves. Customers can ask Alexa to set microwave cook times, modes, power levels, and more instead of using the traditional and often confusing microwave experience," Amazon has said.

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In addition, GE Appliances, Kenmore, LG, and Samsung are working on using the cooking capabilities in the Smart Home Skill API to let users control their ovens and more appliances using Alexa in the future.

Additionally, Amazon has also announced that Alexa Fund, the company's venture capital arm, has invested in June Life, makers of the June Oven, a countertop smart oven that makes cooking easier, faster, and tastier. "We are excited about the innovations June is bringing to the smart kitchen, including their existing Alexa skill, and look forward to what they will create when we introduce support for ovens in the Smart Home Skill API," the company has commented.

All in all, this is an interesting development in the technology sphere. While we mostly see such types of things in Si-Fi movies, Amazon and these companies are making it a reality. Hopefully, these companies are considering or taking necessary precautions to make sure that nothing leads to a dangerous situation or accidents. We don't want Microwaves or ovens blowing up or catching on fire.

What do you think? Do let us know in the comments.

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