• Gain hands-on experience of working with Amazon Echo and Alexa
• Build exciting IoT projects using Amazon Echo
• Learn about voice-enabled smart devices
Description
Amazon Echo is a smart speaker developed by Amazon, which connects to Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service and is entirely controlled by voice commands. Amazon Echo is currently being used for a variety of purposes such as home automation, asking generic queries, and even ordering a cab or pizza.
Alexa Skills Projects starts with a basic introduction to Amazon Alexa and Echo. You will then deep dive into Alexa Programming
concepts such as Intents, Slots, Lambdas and maintaining your skill’s state using DynamoDB. You will get a clear understanding of how some of the most popular Alexa Skills work, and gain experience of working with real-world Amazon Echo applications. In the concluding chapters, you will explore the future of voice-enabled applications and their coverage with respect to the Internet of Things.
By the end of the book, you will have learned to design Alexa Skills for specific purposes and interact with Amazon Echo to execute these skills.
Who is this book for?
Alexa Skills Projects is for individuals who want to have a deep understanding of the underlying technology that drives Amazon Echo and Alexa, and how it can be integrated with the Internet of Things to develop hands-on projects.
What you will learn
• Understand how Amazon Echo is already being used in various domains
• Discover how an Alexa Skill is architected
• Get a clear understanding of how some of the most popular Alexa Skills work
• Design Alexa Skills for specific purposes and interact with Amazon Echo to execute them
• Gain experience of programming for Amazon Echo
• Explore future applications of Amazon Echo and other voice-activated devices
It helps you get a general understanding of the Alexa system. While many people consider it an AI type solution, you will notice it is not really. The decision tree structure is still the old type "if - then - else" logic. In the beginning you are guided a bit back and forth but that is a typical Amazon AWS type documentation, neither intuitive nor very easy to use. The software product itself is updated so that the description is not quite matching the software. You need to figure things out yourself. If you are a good software developer you will get around quickly. If not, I would wait until things are more stable.
Madhur Bhargava is specialized in Wireless and Mobile Computing from CDAC ACTS Pune, India. He started his career at Electronic Arts as a software engineer working on mobile games. He later addressed problems in personalized healthcare, leveraging the power of mobile and voice computing. He is proficient in various mobile/embedded technologies and strives to be a software generalist. He believes that good software is a result of talented individuals working together as a communicative team in an Agile manner. He likes to spend time with his family, read, and watch movies.
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