device.state.MotionDetection starter type: is missing in script editor

[pete-S]

I'd like to test some automations triggered by camera motion detection.  I see in the example there's a starter type of 

- starters:
  - type: device.state.MotionDetection
    device: sensor - Living Room
    state: motionDetectionEventInProgress
    is: true

 but this option is missing for me at present - it's not in the available list of types in typeahead, and if I manually add it, the editor doesn't understand it's a type.  Any idea why this option is missing?

[sky_razor89]

I am not an expert but probably your device does not support this feature with google automation.

[pete-S]

Could be I guess, but the camera's are Google Nests of various types, so you'd kinda hope they'd be supported, and it would seem odd to not even see the type ahead option on the starter type - that would mean the editor would have to check all of the devices for all the supported actions all the time, which seems like a lot of effort.  Do you see that starter type per chance?

[Prafulla · Accepted solution]

Hi @pete-S - Camera events as trigger are coming soon to the script editor (as we shared in our announcement post). We will update this community when they are available. 

[pete-S]

Thanks @Prafulla That would explain it, and I'd missed the coming soon bit.  I was confused because you've already included the camera motion event triggers as examples.

[Batwam]

I would also like to trigger actions based on motion detection.

Is there a timeline for this feature to be added? Also, is there a workaround which can be used in the meantime?

[pete-S]

The only workaround I found is to use HomeAssistant with the Nest integration rather than Google Home at all.  Bizarre that I can do motion detection for Nest cameras with a third party app, but not with Google.  I wanted to use HA for something else anyway, but it's complex to setup.  The only downside now is that the motion trigger takes about 5 seconds to get from Google to HA for some reason, which isn't ideal to turn on the lights when someone comes down the drive, but it's the best I can find for now umtil Google sort this out.

[Alfred2]

Thanks for sharing, i read that this used to work using IFTTT with the Neat app but google broke the API when transferring the service to Google Home. IFTTT recommends to keep using the Neat app and avoid transferring over. Seems strange to see that this is going backwards…

I’ll look into the HA workaround then.

[Batwam]

I can confirm that this is possible through Home assistant using the Camera’s person detection event. It’s a bit convoluted to set up and requires to pay $5 to set up the developer account to access the API but it works.

It’s clearly possible to implement so it’s really disappointing to see that it can’t be done using google’s automation script!

[Batwam]

Would you be able to share a date for this implementation?

[Batwam]

I see that on the page released today, it says that it’s possible to turn on the garage lights when camera motion is detected. This is precisely what we are trying to do here. Could you please explain how this is achieved?

https://home.google.com/intl/en_au/the-latest/

 

[pete-S]

I think this is just them announcing the new Home app in Australia - complete with announced but not available features.  I actually had the starter for camera motion appear in my home app back in mid May, but it didn't work and when I asked support they told me it wasn't supposed to be there yet, and took it out again.  So, I guess we're supposed to be happy that it's coming at some point :-(.  @Prafulla , any more news on release for automation script and home app support for motion triggers, since you're continuing to announce them as if they're available now.

[Batwam]

Yeah, this looks like false advertising to me! Unless they are arguing that it can be done as long as customers use Home Assistant…

[pete-S]

Well, this starter type just doesn't exist in the Home App yet, unless they've released it in Aus only I guess.

But, they cover themselves with their catchall

3.  Home automations require additional enrolment and setup, and depend on working Internet, Wi-Fi and service availability from Google and third parties that manufacture devices included in the automations.

So, they've announced it, but it doesn't actually mean the service is available...

[Batwam]

That’s interesting, I just checked on the App Store to make sure I was using the latest version and noticed the following preview referring to upcoming updates and showing motion activated starter: 

 

[pete-S]

I just noticed that the same link is on the broad home.google,com site at Introducing the redesigned Google Home | Google Home.  I'm on the public preview, version is 3.2.1.7, but nothing yet.  Maybe it means it's coming soon, but it's really poor that they're plugging something which doesn't exist.

[Batwam]

It’s been a while since Google said this feature was about to get released. Does anyone know if it have been released yet?

[Batwam]

@Prafulla It’s been nearly 2 months now. Is this available yet?

[JesusM]

Any update on this? Will it cover non-nest cameras?

I have three Tapo cameras that can be used as motion sensor with Alexa, but Google Home won’t include the motion feature.

thanks

[stefanus]

I have same problem

[pete-S]

Nope.  A couple of days ago, I saw another "it's coming soon" on one of the other threads.  It's appearing somewhat - now you can add the motiondetector starter type and choose a new google cam (not older nest ones), but if you try and save it, you get an error that the camera doesn't support that starter.  So, it's in process but not there yet.

[Batwam]

@Prafulla is this going to take much longer? still not supported!

[Batwam]

I am glad to report that this has now been implemented! See here for details.

The only problem I have is that I have a camera which has people detection only activated in a certain zone so, it's off Outside of zone and On over the zone. Because of this, the automation script gives me a warning stating that person detection is off for this camera. However, it still works so you can safely ignore this warning.

[jamesmacwhite]

This is an interesting find, as I also came across this when using different events like device.event.PersonDetection and device.event.MovingVehicleDetection, it does always seem to show this warning. What's confusing is the context of the warning is as you pointed out, the outside of zone settings.

The issue is when using outside of zone events, any automation triggers using the script editor will trigger on these, you can't seem to limit them to the defined zone you have configured. Unlike being able to enable outside zone events, but not having notifications came up on your phone, you don't have the same flexibility in the script editor.

[CplChef]

Hi, any idea why I do not see any of these new starters (Package delivered starter,Familiar face detected starter,Dog detected, motion detected)?

[GlassShadow]

Hiya, from trying the scripts myself it seems like this still isn't working close to a year since the original 'it's coming soon'. Is that the case? Or is there some other functions that have been released that are documented somewhere to access this?

[JesusM]

It feels to me that this is and will be only for nest cameras

[GlassShadow]

Yeah I've got a nest camera, the script editor suggests using:

- type: device.state.MotionDetection

device: Google Nest Camera

state: motionDetectionEventInProgress

is: true

but whenever I try to validate or save it I get the error '[state: motionDetectionEventInProgress] is not supported by device [Google Nest Camera]'

So it doesn't look like they've supported almost a year after announcement... happy to be shown otherwise!

[GlassShadow]

Actually, I've found out why but it's not in any documentation or the script editor.

Motion sensors use: - type: device.state.MotionDetection

Camera motion uses: - type: device.event.MotionDetection

So for the Camera you have to have 'motion' detection activated (you'll get spammed with events) and have to use the event type.

Typing it here in case it helps others in the future 🙂

edit: also the way the functions work are completely different - if you want to turn it off after a set time... you have to use for an event
actions:
- type: time.delay
for: 1min

whereas for a state you have to use in the starter:

state: motionDetectionEventInProgress
is: false
for: 1min

It's really not documented clearly anywhere about how random these are.

[jamesmacwhite]

There is also the supressFor option which you can use in the starter block. This stops constant triggering, similar to the cool down behaviour.