This article was 1st published on our sister Site, Digital World Native.
In an attempt to infuse more fun & creativity to power its virtual assistant Alexa, Amazon recently announced the ‘Alexa Gadgets Toolkit‘ (beta) to help you build your very own Alexa gadgets. These accessories can be paired to compatible Echo devices via Bluetooth, Amazon announced in its blog post.
With these gadgets, Alexa’s capabilities can be extended to new modalities with motors, lights, sound chips & so on.
Power Your Ideas
Do you like how Alexa plays your favorite music when requested from across the room? Now, you can extend these same capabilities to your gadgets & help demonstrate these interactions with Alexa vis-à-vis your devices.
Hasbro, WowWee Group Limited, Gemmy Industries, Baby Plus, TOMY International, Novalia, & eKids (an affiliate of iHome), are companies that are already working to deliver customer entertainment using the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit, the blog stated.
Self-service APIs
The Alexa Gadgets Toolkit offers self-service APIs & Gadget Interfaces that expose metadata of Alexa’s capabilities on compatible Echo devices. To help direct pairing & connectivity, communication, & over-the-air (OTA) updates between your gadget & Echo device, it also includes technical documentation & sample code.
Therefore, says Amazon, you can just concentrate on building your gadget without worrying about requiring advanced processors, microphone & audio processing, or device Cloud management.
A Few Ideas To Get Started:
- Wake Word Detection: Respond when the wake word is sensed. For instance, a cuckoo clock that pops its head out whenever a customer says, “Alexa”
- Speech: Sync movement to text-to-speech; for example a robot that lip syncs as Alexa reads the local weather report
- Notifications: Respond to notifications, such as a flag that raises each time a notification is received
- Timers: Respond when a timer has expired, such as an outdoor gong that chimes when backyard playtime timer has concluded
- Alarms: Respond when an alarm has been triggered, such as a switch that releases dog food each time an alarm has expired
- Reminders: Respond when a pre-set reminder has gone off, such as a pill box that plays a short tune & flashes an array of colors when it’s time for daily vitamins
- Music (Coming Soon): Create visual performances with music, such as a hula girl that sways her hips when songs are playing on Amazon Music
The first products created with the help of Alexa Gadgets Toolkit will be available to consumers later this year, the announcement stated.
Alexa Gadgets For Kids
Amazon plans to extend fun & entertainment of Alexa gadgets to families & kids. Here, developers will be able to create gadgets for kids that are compatible to their age-skills. The e-commerce giant announced participation by several entertainment companies who are working on Alexa Gadgets concepts for kids.
For more information & tips on building you own Alexa gadgets, click here. If interested, you can sign up for alerts or latest updates & be notified when these products are available on Amazon.com.
The Alexa Gadgets Toolkit is currently available in the US, UK & Germany.
Image Credit: Amazon