IoT & Hardware
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You're reading from  Alexa Skills Projects

Product typeBook
Published inJun 2018
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781788997256
Edition1st Edition
Tools
Alexa Skills
Concepts
Home Automation
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Author (1)
Madhur Bhargava
Madhur Bhargava
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Madhur Bhargava

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.
Read more about Madhur Bhargava

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Anatomy of an Alexa Skill

In this section, we will strive to understand what makes Alexa, the personal assistant bundled with Amazon Echo, so smart. The sole reason that Alexa can follow and understand a user's voice commands is because it has skills, and not just in a literal sense, but also in an actual sense.

An Alexa Skill is an actual piece of software code designed for a singular purpose; that is, to make Alexa accomplish a certain task. The following are some examples:

  • There is an Alexa Skill to order pizza from Domino's Pizza
  • There is an Alexa Skill to summon Uber
  • There is an Alexa Skill to order flowers
  • There is an Alexa Skill to listen to your horoscope

The number of skills available for Alexa has been steadily growing since 2016. As of early 2018, there are over 30,000 third-party skills available for Alexa in the US alone:

Figure 2.6: Growth statistics for Alexa's third-party skills

Once the user has configured the Amazon Echo device, as shown in the previous section, installing/enabling...

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Alexa Skills Projects
Published in: Jun 2018Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781788997256
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Author (1)

author image
Madhur Bhargava

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.
Read more about Madhur Bhargava

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