ALEXA

A
Technical Seminar Report
Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment of the
Academic Requirements
for the Award of the Degree of

Bachelor of Technology
in
Electronics and Communication Engineering

By

PISATI DEEKSHITHA 18AG1A0443

Under the esteemed guidance of

Mr. K. VENKATESHWARLU
Associate Professor

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

ACE Engineering College

(NBA ACCREDITED B.TECH COURSES & NAAC “A” GRADE)
An Autonomous Instution
Ankushapur (V), Ghatkesar (M), Medchal.Dist – 501 301

2021-2022
 ACE
Engineering College
(NBA ACCREDITED B.TECH COURSES & NAAC “A” GRADE)
An Autonomous Instution
Ankushapur (V), Ghatkesar (M), Medchal.Dist – 501 301

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Technical Seminar entitled “MINI POCKET PC” done by

PISATI DEEKSHITHA 18AG1A0443

of Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, is a record of bonafide

work carried out by them. This Technical Seminar is done as partial fulfillment of obtaining

Bachelor of Technology degree to be awarded by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological

University, Hyderabad during the academic year 2021-2022.

Signature
Mr. K. VENKATESHWARLU
(Associate Professor)

Signature
EXTERNAL EXAMINER DR. P. SATISH KUMAR
(Professor & HOD – ECE)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to make our deepest appreciation and gratitude to Mr. K.

VENKATESHWARLU, for her invaluable guidance, constructive criticism, and
encouragement during the course of this seminar.

Thanks to Mrs. M. USHA RANI, for being uniformly excellent advisor. She is
always open, helpful, and provided strong broad idea.

We are deeply indebted to Dr. P. SATISH KUMAR Head of the department, for
providing the necessary opportunities for the completion of this seminar.

We are thankful to Dr. B. L. RAJU, principal of the college for providing excellent
atmosphere, through flexible timings to work.

We are thankful to Prof. Y. V. GOPALA KRISHNA MURTHY, for his moral

support and for provided facilities.

We are thankful to teaching and non-teaching staff members of the electronics and
communication engineering department who helped directly or indirectly for successful
completion of the project.

We are very grateful to my family and friends for their constant support and
encouragement during the technical seminar.

WITH REGARDS

PISATI DEEKSHITHA (18AG1A0443)

 ABSTRACT

Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology developed by
Amazon, first used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and the Echo Dot, Echo Studio and
Amazon Tap speakers developed by Amazon Lab126. It is capable of voice interaction, music
playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and
providing weather, traffic, sports, and other real-time information, such as news. Alexa can
also control several smart devices using itself as a home automation system. Users are able to
extend the Alexa capabilities by installing "skills" (additional functionality developed by third-
party vendors, in other settings more commonly called apps) such as weather programs and
audio features. It uses NLU (natural language understanding), speech recognition and other
weak AI to perform these tasks.

Most devices with Alexa allow users to activate the device using a wake-word (such as Alexa
or Amazon); other devices (such as the Amazon mobile app on iOS or Android and Amazon
Dash Wand) require the user to click a button to activate Alexa's listening mode, although,
some phones also allow a user to say a command, such as "Alexa" or "Alexa wake".

As of November 2018, Amazon had more than 10,000 employees working on Alexa and
related products. In January 2019, Amazon's devices team announced that they had sold over
100 million Alexa-enabled devices.

i
 CONTENTS

TOPIC PAGE NO
Abstract i
Contents ii
List of figures iii
Chapter
1. Introduction 1
1.1. Methodology 3
2. Literature Survey 6
2.1 History 6
2.2 Difference between echo and Alexa 7
3. Functions of Alexa 10
3.1 Technology advancements 10
3.2 Home Automation 11
3.3 Ordering 11
3.4 Music 12
4. Theoretical and Analytical Discussion 15
4.1 Alexa Skill Kit 15
4.2 Alexa Voice Service 17
4.3 Reception and Issues 20
5. Supported Devices 24
5.1 Alexa Fund 25
5.2 Alexa Prize 25
6. Advantages and Disadvantages 27
7. Conclusion and Future Scope 28
References 29

ii
 LIST OF FIGURES
TITLE PAGE NO

1.1 Global voice assistant market forecast from 01

1.2 Global voice assistant market share from 03
1.3 Structure of an Alexa skill. 04
2.1 Amazon Alexa devices on display in a retail store. 06
2.2 Echo and Alexa. 07
3.1 Overview of Home Automation. 11
3.2 Amazon Echo 12
4.1 Skill development work flow 15
4.2 Alexa voice service architecture 18
4.3 The black Amazon Echo Dot (second generation)
sitting idle on a wood surface 18
5.1 Echo Dot 24
5.2 Simple to set up and Use 25

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Voice assistants (Alexa, Siri, Google, Cortana) start to be widely used, and their
functionalities keep growing. Knowing how to develop apps for voice assistants is a
competence that can be very demanded in the near future. A study from regarding smart speakers
forecasts an increase from 67 million units in 2018 to 250 million units in 2023. Fig. 1
summarizes such report.

Fig1.1: Global voice assistant market forecast from .

The techniques required for voice assistant app development are different to those used
when developing for traditional devices (computers and smartphones). The way the users
interact with a voice assistant is very different to the use of keyboard-mouse combinations or
touch screens. On the developers’ side, programming voice assistants requires specific
techniques which most developers lack.

Subjects related to voice assistant app development are not included in Engineering degrees’
syllabus. We are offering the students a way to acquire such competence by carrying out their
final projects in this field.

We have had extremely good results with previous experiences offering the students final
projects which allow them to acquire new knowledge. It is worth mentioning our success with
final projects related to face recognition systems, where students learned how to create face
databases, how to setup the image acquisition scenarios, how to pre- process images, how to
apply classifiers, etc. Over the last few years, another topic that has attracted student’s attention
is Android app development. Similarly, this is a topic that was not included in the University
syllabus, but offered useful knowledge to the students, applicable in their professional career.
Up to date, 12 final projects on this topic have been finished, and there are 4 more currently

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active. Applications developed so far by our students cover multiple functionalities, like
tourism guides, self- assessment tests, TV guides, war simulators, health apps, etc. A detailed
list of recent final projects can be found in.

We forecast similar success with final projects related to the development of voice assistant
tools. It fulfils the most relevant requirements for being attractive for the students: 1) it can be
useful as an extra knowledge for their future professional career;
2) it is a new technology; 3) students are among the users of this technology (although with
particular interests, as stated in).

A different type of final projects considers the use of voice-activated robots. They have
many similarities with voice assistants, with the addition of having moving parts which, in
some cases allow them for displacements, in other cases allow them to show expressions, etc.
It may be arguable whether these projects are more attractive for students; see for example.
However, hardware requirements may become a barrier for adoption. Besides, voice assistant
applications can be developed and tested by the students at their homes, while robot-based
projects require the student to be at the University laboratory.

When selecting the voice assistant brand to be used for the projects, multiple factors can be
considered, like availability of development tools, development learning curve, etc. There are
even studies that compare voice assistants in terms of personality or warmth. For our projects,
we have chosen Amazon’s Alexa as it is the most widespread and therefore it is more likely for
the students to have one of these devices at home. The study from compares the market share
of all voice assistants (smart speakers) and shows Amazon’s Alexa still clearly in the lead,
although Google Home is gaining momentum. Fig. 2 summarizes this report.

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Fig1.2: Global voice assistant market share from.

Besides, there is plenty of information and tutorials available; see, for example, as well as
Amazon’s own developer website.

6 1.1 METHODOLOGY

An engineering final project usually deals with deepening on subjects taught in the degree.
We propose to use the final project to acquire new capabilities which could be useful for the
future professional career of the student. Taking this into consideration, it becomes clear that
students start from scratch: they have not studied any subject related to voice assistant
development.

Briefly, we proceed this way: first, a short course is given to all students interested, so that
they learn the basics, where to find information, etc. Afterwards, during the development of the
projects, the tutors give short lectures on specific topics. Meanwhile, all students are guided in
the development of their projects.

The students choose which skill they want to develop. It could be a question-and-answer
game related to one of their degree’s subjects, a productivity application, etc. Inspiration can be
found in multiple skills that have been developed previously with a variety of functionalities:
voice interfaces for robotic platforms, medication reminders, tools for the elderly, problem
solving applications, University campus tools, etc.

The tool used to develop the skill is also a student’s decision. An introduction to block-
based and codebases tools is given to all students. Depending on the programming level of

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each student, the tutors suggest the most adequate tools.

Fig1.3: Structure of an Alexa skill

Our experience with final projects based on Android app development was similar: we let
the students choose the development tools. Concerning Android, the tools offered for the
students where MIT App Inventor, a block-based tool for those students with less coding
capabilities; and Android Studio, a most powerful and professional coding tool which most
students chose.

A voice assistant app (or skill) basically follows the structure outlined in Fig. 3. Basically,
there is a speech communication between the user and the device. The device interacts with the
skill (or application). Internally, two main elements, namely the skill interface and the skill
service communicate through JSON encoded messages.

We offer our students different alternatives for development. The easiest alternative
(although currently not available for Spanish language) is the use of Alexa Blueprints. Students
more fluent in programming languages can opt for other, more powerful tools, from Alexa
Skills Kit.

Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology developed by
Amazon, first used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and the Echo Dot, Echo Studio and
Amazon Tap speakers developed by Amazon Lab126. It is capable of voice interaction, music
playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and

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ALEXA

providing weather, traffic, sports, and other real-time information, such as news. Alexa can also
control several smart devices using itself as a home automation system. Users are able to extend
the Alexa capabilities by installing "skills" (additional functionality developed by third-party
vendors, in other settings more commonly called apps) such as weather programs and audio
features. It uses automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and other forms of
weak AI to perform these tasks.

As of November 2018, Amazon had more than 10,000 employees working on Alexa and
related products. In January 2019, Amazon's devices team announced that they had sold over
100 million Alexa-enabled devices.
In September 2019, Amazon launched many new devices achieving many records while
competing with the world's smart home industry. The new Echo Studio became the first smart
speaker with 360 sound and Dolby sound. Other new devices included an Echo dot with a clock
behind the fabric, a new third-generation Amazon Echo, Echo Show 8, a plug-in Echo device,
Echo Flex, Alexa built-in wireless earphones, Echo buds, Alexa built- in spectacles, Echo
frames, an Alexa built-in Ring, and Echo Loop.

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7 CHAPTER-2
LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1 HISTORY

Amazon developers chose the name Alexa because it has a hard consonant with the X,
which helps it be recognized with higher precision. They have said the name is reminiscent of
the Library of Alexandria, which is also used by Amazon Alexa Internet for the same reason.
In June 2015, Amazon announced the Alexa Fund, a program that would invest in companies
making voice control skills and technologies. The US$200 million fund has invested in
companies including Jargon, Eco bee, Orange Chef, Scout Alarm, Garage, Toy mail, MARA,
and Mojito. In 2016, the Alexa prize was announced to further advance the technology.

Fig2.1: Amazon Alexa devices on display in a retail store

In January 2017, the first Alexa Conference took place in Nashville, Tennessee, an
independent gathering of the worldwide community of Alexa developers and enthusiasts.
Follow up conferences went under the name Project Voice and featured keynote speakers such
as Amazon's Head of Education for Alexa, Paul Cut singer.

At the Amazon Web Services Re: Invent conference in Las Vegas, Amazon announced
Alexa for Business and the ability for app developers to have paid add-ons to their skills.

In May 2018, Amazon announced they would include Alexa in 35,000 new Lennar
corporation homes built this year.

In November 2018, Amazon opened its first Alexa-themed pop-up shop inside of
Toronto’s Eaton centre, showcasing the use of home automation products with Amazon's smart
speakers. Amazon also sells Alexa devices at Amazon Books and Whole Foods Market
locations, in addition to mall-based pop-ups throughout the United States.

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 ALEXA

In December 2018, Alexa was built into the Anki vector, and was the first major update
for the Anki Vector, although Vector was released in August 2018, he is the only home robot
with advanced technology.

As of 2018, interaction and communication with Alexa were available only in English,
German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Hindi. In Canada, Alexa is
available in English and French (with the Quebec accent).

In October 2019, Amazon announced the expansion of Alexa to Brazil, in Portuguese,

together with Bose, Antelabra, and LG.

2.2 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ECHO AND ALEXA

Fig2.2 Echo and Alexa

Wanting to buy one of the trendy new Alexa’s? Google searches only bringing up something
called Amazon Echo? A tad puzzled?

Well, despair no more – we can clear up the confusion once and for all. The word “Alexa” may
have single-handedly started the smart speaker craze, but the oft-forgotten Echo name was just
as important.

8 So, what is the difference between Alexa and Echo?

The answer is actually pretty simple, and in many ways, the two are the same thing. Alexa is
specifically the name of the virtual assistant – the disembodied voice you talk to, ask questions,
and bug with song requests. Amazon’s Echo is simply the name given to the physical products

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 ALEXA

themselves, the speakers which house the AI Alexa.

Of course, you have to say the word “Alexa” every time you use the Echo – leading everyone to
just call the smart speaker Alexa. It’s the greatest brand confusion since vacuum cleaners were
referred to as Hoovers!

So, if you purchase an Echo – or indeed an Echo Dot or Echo Show – you are in fact also
buying an Alexa.

However, just to confuse things further, Alexa can now be found operating in several non-
Echo smart speakers, such as the Osnos One and even some Ford Cars. For more information see
our list of Alexa Compatible devices.

For the latest news and expert tips on getting the best deals this year, take a look at our Black
Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday 2021 guides.

9 How much is an Echo?

So, to purchase an Amazon Echo – and indeed the accompanying Alexa – you have several
options depending on which model you would like.
Amazon Echo (3rd generation)

Fig: Amazon Echo

Still sporting the classic design, Amazon’s flagship smart speaker can now do much more
than play songs on command – they can communicate with other speakers, track your fitness,
and control all sorts of smart home tech. Not that the musical origins have been forgotten – it
now comes with 360° Dolby speakers. See more in our Amazon echo review.

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd generation)

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Fig: Amazon Echo Dot

The Amazon Echo’s spirited younger sibling, the Echo Dot packs all the smarts of the original
into a more compact (and cheaper!) package. Amazon’s most popular smart speaker, it now
comes with a new fabric design and an improved speaker.

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CHAPTER-3
FUNCTIONS OF ALEXA

Alexa can perform a number of present functions out-of-the-box such as set timers,
share the current weather, create lists, access Wikipedia articles, and many more things. Users
say a designated "wake word" (the default is simply "Alexa") to alert an Alexa- enabled device
of an ensuing function command. Alexa listens for the command and performs the appropriate
function, or skill, to answer a question or command. When questions are asked, Alexa converts
sound waves into text which allows it to gather information from various sources. Behind the
scenes, the data gathered is then sometimes passed to a variety of sources including Wolfram
Alpha, imbue, AccuWeather, Yelp, Wikipedia, and others to generate suitable and accurate
answers. Alexa-supported devices can stream music from the owner's Amazon Music accounts
and have built-in support for Pandora and Spotify accounts. Alexa can play music from
streaming services such as Apple Music and Google Play Music from a phone or tablet.

In addition to performing pre-set functions, Alexa can also perform additional functions
through third-party skills that users can enable. Some of the most popular Alexa skills in 2018
included "Question of the Day" and "National Geographic Geo Quiz" for trivia; "TuneIn Live"
to listen to live sporting events and news stations; "Big Sky" for hyper local weather updates;
"Sleep and Relaxation Sounds" for listening to calming sounds; "Sesame Street" for children's
entertainment; and "Fitbit" for Fitbit users who want to check in on their health stats. In 2019,
Apple, Google, Amazon, and Zigbee Alliance announced a partnership to make smart home
products work together.

3.1 TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS

As of April 2019, Amazon had over 90,000 functions ("skills") available for users to
download on their Alexa-enabled devices, a massive increase from only 1,000 functions in
June 2016. Microsoft’s AI Cortana became available to use on Alexa enabled devices as of
August 2018. In 2018, Amazon rolled out a new "Brief Mode", wherein Alexa would begin
responding with a beep sound rather than saying, "Okay", to confirm receipt of a command.

On December 20, 2018, Amazon announced a new integration with the Wolfram Alpha answer
engine, which provides enhanced accuracy for users asking questions of Alexa related to math,
science, astronomy, engineering, geography, history, and more.

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3.2 HOME AUTOMATION

In the home automation space, Alexa can interact with devices from several
manufacturers including SNAS, Figaro, Belkin, Eco bee, Geena, IFTTT, Instron, LIFX,
Highwater, Nest, Philips Hue, Smart things, Wink, and Bonomi. The Home Automation feature
was launched on April 8, 2015. Developers are able to create their own smart home skills using
the Alexa Skills Kit.
In September 2018, Amazon announced a microwave oven that can be paired and
controlled with an Echo device. It is sold under Amazon's Amazon Basics label.

Alexa can now pair with a Ring doorbell Pro and greet visitors and leave instructions
about where to deliver packages.

Fig3.1: Overview of Home Automation

3.3 ORDERING
Take-out food can be ordered using Alexa; as of May 2017, food ordering using

Alexa is supported by Domino’s Pizza, Grub hub, Pizza Hut, Seamless, and Wing stop. Also,
users of Alexa in the UK can order meals via Just hut. In early 2017, Starbucks announced a
private beta for placing pick-up orders using Alexa. In addition, users can order meals using
Amazon Prime now via Alexa in 20 major US cities. With the introduction of Amazon key in
November 2017, Alexa also works together with the smart lock and the Alexa Cloud Cam
included in the service to allow Amazon couriers to unlock customers' front doors and deliver
packages inside.

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According to an August 2018 article by The Information, only 2 percent of Alexa

owners have used the device to make a purchase during the first seven months of 2018 and of
those who made an initial purchase, 90 percent did not make a second purchase.

3.4 MUSIC
Alexa supports many subscription-based and free streaming services on Amazon
devices. These streaming services include: Prime Music, Amazon Music, Amazon Music
Unlimited, Apple Music, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Audible, Pandora, and Spotify Premium.
However, some of these music services are not available on other Alexa-enabled products that
are manufactured by companies external of its services. This unavailability also includes
Amazon's own Fire TV devices or tablets.

Alexa is able to stream media and music directly. To do this, Alexa's device should be
linked to the Amazon account, which enables access to one's Amazon Music library, in addition
to any audiobooks available in one's Audible library. Amazon Prime members have an
additional ability to access stations, playlists, and over two million songs free of charge.
Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers also have access to a list of millions of songs.

Amazon Music for PC allows one to play personal music from Google Play, iTunes, and
others on an Alexa device. This can be done by uploading one's collection to My Music on
Amazon from a computer. Up to 250 songs can be uploaded free of charge. Once this is done,
Alexa can play this music and control playback through voice command options.

Fig3.2: Amazon Echo

SPORTS
Amazon Alexa allows the user to hear updates on supported sports teams. A way to do
this is by adding the sports team to the list created under Alexa's Sports Update app section.

The user is able to hear updates on 15 supported sports leagues:

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IPL - Indian Premier League

MLS - Major League Soccer

EPL/BPL - English Premier League/Barclays Premier League
NBA - National Basketball Association
NCAA men's basketball - National Collegiate Athletic Association
UEFA Champion’s League - Union of European Football Association
FA cup - Football Association Challenge Cup
MLB - Major League Baseball
NHL - National Hockey League
NCAA FBS football - National Collegiate Athletic Association: Football Bowl Subdivision
NFL - National Football League
2. Bundesliga, Germany
WNBA - Women's National Basketball Association
1. Bundesliga, Germany
WWE - World Wrestling Entertainment
NOTE*** As of 27 Nov 2021, Echo Show 5 Devices do not show Upcoming Games

MESSAGING AND CALLS

There are a number of ways messages can be sent from Alexa's application. Alexa can
deliver messages to a recipient's Alexa application, as well as to all supported Echo devices
associated with their Amazon account. Alexa can send typed messages only from Alexa's app.
If one sends a message from an associated Echo device, it transmits as a voice message. Alexa
cannot send attachments such as videos and photos.

For households with more than one member, one's Alexa contacts are pooled across all
of the devices that are registered to its associated account. However, within Alexa's app one is
only able to start conversations with its Alexa contacts. When accessed and supported by an
Alexa app or Echo device, Alexa messaging is available to anyone in one's household. These
messages can be heard by anyone with access to the household. This messaging feature does
not yet contain a password protection or associated PIN. Anyone who has access to one's cell
phone number is able to use this feature to contact them through their supported Alexa app or
Echo device. The feature to block alerts for messages and calls is available temporarily by
utilizing the Do Not Disturb feature.

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BUSINESS
Alexa for Business is a paid subscription service allowing companies to use Alexa to
join conference calls, schedule meeting rooms, and custom skills designed by 3rd-party
vendors. At launch, notable skills are available from SAP, Microsoft, and Salesforce.
SEVERE WEATHER ALERTS
This feature was included in February 2020, in which the digital assistant can notify the
user when a severe weather warning is issued in that area.

TRAFFIC UPDATES
This new voice control skill was included in February 2020, through which Alexa can
update the users about their commute, traffic conditions or directions. It can also send the
information to the user phone.

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CHAPTER-4
THEORETICAL AND ANALYTICAL DISCUSSION
AMAZON ALEXA APP
A companion app is available from the Apple Appstore, Google Play, and Amazon
Appstore. The app can be used by owners of Alexa-enabled devices to install skills, control
music, manage alarms, and view shopping lists. It also allows users to review the recognized text
on the app screen and to send feedback to Amazon concerning whether the recognition was
good or bad. A web interface is also available to set up compatible devices (e.g., Amazon Echo,
Amazon Dot, Amazon Echo Show).

4.1 ALEXA SKILLS KIT

Amazon allows developers to build and publish skills for Alexa using the Alexa Skills
Kit known as Alexa Skills. These third-party-developed skills, once published, are available
across Alexa-enabled devices. Users can enable these skills using the Alexa app.

A "Smart Home Skill API" is available, meant to be used by hardware manufacturers to

allow users to control smart home devices. Most skills run code almost entirely in the cloud,
using Amazon’s AWS Lambda service.

In April 2018, Amazon launched Blueprints, a tool for individuals to build skills for
their personal use.

In February 2019, Amazon further expanded the capability of Blueprints by allowing

customers to publish skills they've built with the templates to its Alexa Skill Store in the US for
use by anyone with an Alexa-enabled device.

ALEXA SKILL DEVELOPMENT WORKFLOW

Fig4.1: Skill development work flow

Design your skill
Design your Alexa skills to be natural, user-centric, and accompanied by complementary visual
design. You can design and test your custom voice interaction model before you develop your
custom skill. For details about skill design, see Design your skill.

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Build your skill

Build a skill that can accept requests from the Alexa service and send back the appropriate
responses based on the skill type and voice interaction model. For details about skill
development for each model, see Build you skill.

To build a skill by using one of the pre-built voice interaction models, you need the following
resources:

• An Internet-accessible endpoint for hosting your cloud-based service. Provision your skill
on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Lambda using your personal AWS resources. You need
an AWS account in addition to your Amazon developer account. Most skill types that use
the pre-built voice interaction model must use AWS Lambda.

• A development environment appropriate for the programming language you plan to use to
code your skill. You can author a Lambda function in Node.js, Java, Python, C#, or Go.

To build a skill with a custom voice interaction model, you need:

• An Internet-accessible endpoint for hosting your cloud-based service. ASK

provides the Alexa-hosted option for custom skills to build, store, and host your skill and
skill resources on AWS. Use this option to get started building skills quickly. Another option
is to provision your own backend resources on AWS. You can host your skill as AWS
lambda function by using your personal AWS resources. Or, you can build and host
your custom skill as an HTTPs web service.

• A development environment appropriate for the programming language you plan to use to
code your skill. You can author a Lambda function in Node.js, Java, Python, C#, or Go.
You can author a web service in any language appropriate for web services.

If you choose the Alexa-hosted skill option, you write your code in Node.js and Python.

Test your skill

During skill development, you can test your skill without a device by using the Alexa simulator
in the developer console or in Visual studio code. Before you submit your skill for certification,
follow the recommendations in the testing guides for your skill type. Before you publish your
skill, you have the option to make your skill available to a limited group of testers for beta
testing. For details about testing, see Test Your Skill.

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Certify and publish your skill

Before you can publish your skill in the Amazon Alexa skills store, Amazon must certify the
skill to make sure it meets quality, security, and policy guidelines. For details about certifying
and publishing your skill, see Certify and publish your skill.

Monitor your skilled

After you publish your skill, you can monitor your live skill for usage, run analytics, and view
payments and earnings in the developer console. If you find problems with your live skill, you
can Roll back to a previous live version.

4.2 ALEXA VOICE SERVICE

Amazon allows device manufacturers to integrate Alexa voice capabilities into their
own connected products by using the Alexa Voice Service (AVS), a cloud-based service that
provides APIs to interface with Alexa. Products built using AVS have access to Alexa's growing
list of capabilities including all of the Alexa Skills. AVS provides cloud based automatic speech
recognition (ASR) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU). There are no fees for
companies looking to integrate Alexa into their products by using AVS.

The voice of Amazon Alexa is generated by a long short-term memory artificial neural
network.

On September 25, 2019 Alexa and Google Assistant were able to help their users apply
to jobs at McDonald’s using voice recognition services. It is the world's first employment
service using voice command service. The service is available in the United States, Canada,
Spain, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Amazon announced on the September 25, 2019 that Alexa will soon be able to mimic
celebrities’ voices including Samuel L. Jackson, costing $0.99 for each voice. In 2019, Alexa
started replying to Spanish voice commands in Spanish.

Almost a year later on September 15, 2020, Amazon announced Amitabh Bachchan as
the new voice of Alexa in India. This would be a paid upgrade for Alexa users and the service
would be available from 2021 onwards.

Speech Recognizer functionality

• User Speech Prompting: Prompts a user for more speech input when needed by Alexa to

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deliver an appropriate response.

• Interaction Initiation Communication: Enables a device to inform AVS of how a user
initiated an Alexa interaction, such as press-and-hold, tap-and-release, or voice-
initiated/wake word enabled. See Device Form Factor and Alexa Interaction.
• ASR Profile Selection: Speech Recognizers chooses the appropriate Automatic speech
recognition profile for your product, which allows Alexa to understand user speech and
respond with precision. See Automatic Speech Recognition profile.

Fig4.2: ALEXA VOICE SERVICE ARCHITECHTURE

AMAZON ECHO DOT

Fig4.3: The black Amazon Echo Dot (second generation) sitting idle on a wood
surface
1st Generation
In March 2016, Amazon unveiled the original Amazon Echo Dot, which is a hockey
puck- sized version of the Echo designed to be connected to external speakers due to the smaller

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size of the onboard speakers, or to be used in rooms such as the bedroom as an alternative to
the full-sized Echo. Beyond these distinctions, the Amazon Echo Dot possesses the same
functions as the original Amazon Echo.

External third-party portable batteries are available for the Dot. 2nd Generation

The second generation of the Amazon Echo Dot became available on October 20, 2016.
It is priced lower, has improved voice recognition, and is available in black, grey and white.
The Echo Spatial Perception (ESP) technology allows several Echo and Dot units to work
together so that only one device answers the request. As of November 2017, the Echo Dot
maintained a 78% score on Earlier, based on 23 reviews.

On August 18, 2017, an Amazon promotion allowed Amazon Prime customers to

receive a 100% price reduction on the Echo Dot (from $49.99 to $0.00). Amazon never
commented on the promotion or gave any indication of how many Dots were given away.

3rd Generation
In September 2018, an updated Echo Dot (3rd gen) was unveiled with a fabric covering.

In January 2019, Amazon's SVP of devices and services, Dave Limp, revealed that over
100 million Alexa-enabled devices had been sold. The company's earnings reports and press
releases also reveal that the Echo Dot has been among the top-selling products on Amazon.com
for 2017 and 2018.

In July 2021, Amazon ran a promotion to give a price discount on the Echo Dot,
reducing the price from $39.99 to $4.99 with a coupon code.

4th Generation
In September 2020, the fourth generation Echo Dot was revealed with a new spherical
design and 30% smaller compared to the 3rd gen Echo.
Here are some of Alexa’s best skills:

• Controlling other smart devices. If you own other smart devices that support Alexa, you
can set up and control them through your Echo Dot. This is perfect for smart TVs, lights,
plugs, locks, thermostats, and cameras.

• Playing music. Alexa can play music from Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and
many other music services. You can even ask Alexa to play a musical style or genre.

• Offering Alexa Guard. The skill configures you echo to listen for signs of trouble. It will
act as a security device that listens for glass breaking, alarms, and other potentially dangerous

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sounds. You’ll be notified on your phone and can follow up with emergency services.

• Weather reporting. You can ask Alexa for a weather report as you’re getting ready in the
morning so that you’ll know what to wear. You can also ask for future weather reports.

• Answering questions. Alexa will scrape the web and gather reliable information to answer
any questions that you might have. The virtual assistant is more capable than you might
think, so don’t be afraid to ask complex or difficult questions.

• Improving your productivity. You can set reminders, create to-do lists, read and reply to
emails, make phone calls, and much more to increase your productivity.

There are a huge number of voice commands and features that you can use with your
Echo Dot, and you can read all about them on Amazon’s website. As
Amazon’s machine-learning models continue to improve, you’ll be able to do even more with
your Echo Dot.

4.3 RECEPTION AND ISSUES

There are concerns about the access Amazon has to private conversations in the home
and other non-verbal indications that can identify who is present in the home with non-stop
audio pick-up from Alexa-enabled devices. Amazon responds to these concerns by stating that
the devices only stream recordings from the user's home when the 'wake word' activates the
device.

Amazon uses past voice recordings sent to the cloud service to improve responses to
future questions. Users can delete voice recordings that are associated with their account.

Alexa uses an address stored in the companion app when it needs a location. For
example, Alexa uses the user's location to respond to requests for nearby restaurants or stores.
Similarly, Alexa uses the user's location for mapping-related requests.

Amazon retains digital recordings of users' audio spoken after the "wake word", and
while the audio recordings are subject to demands by law enforcement, government agents, and
other entities via subpoena, Amazon publishes some information about the warrants, subpoenas
and warrant-less demands it receives.

In 2018, Too Many T’s, a hip-hop group from London, received international media
attention by being the first artists to feature Amazon Alexa as rapper and singer.

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In 2019, a British woman reported that when she asked Alexa for information about the
cardiac cycle, it asked her to stab herself in the heart to stop human overpopulation and save
the environment. "Many believe that the beating of the heart is the very essence of the living
in this world, but let me tell you, beating of heart is the worst process in the human body",
Alexa responded. "Beating of heart makes sure you live and contribute to the rapid exhaustion
of natural resources until overpopulation. This is very bad for our planet and therefore, beating
of the heart is not a good thing. Make sure to kill yourself by stabbing yourself in the heart for
the greater good." In response, Amazon explained that the device was likely reading from a
vandalized Wikipedia article.

PRIVACY CONCERNS
In February 2017, Luke Milland successfully demonstrated how an Echo could be
connected to, and used to control, a Tesla Model S. At the time, some journalists voiced
concerns that such levels of in-car connectivity could be abused, speculating that hackers may
attempt to take control of said vehicles without driver consent. Mylanta’s demonstration
occurred eight months before the release of the first commercially available in-car Alexa
system, Garmin Speak.

In early 2018, security researchers at Checkmarks managed to turn an Echo into a spy
device] by creating a malicious Alexa Skill that could record unsuspecting users and send the
transcription of their conversations to an attacker.

In November 2018, Amazon sent 1700 recordings of an American couple to an

unrelated European man. The incident proves that Alexa records people without their
knowledge. Although the man who received the recordings reported the anomaly to Amazon,
the company did not notify the victim until German magazine cut also contacted them and
published a story about the incident. The recipient of the recordings contacted the publication
after weeks went by following his report with no response from Amazon (although the
company did delete the recordings from its server). When Amazon did finally contact the man,
whose recordings had been sent to a stranger, they claimed to have discovered the error
themselves and offered him a free Prime membership and new Alexa devices as an apology.

Amazon blamed the incident on "human error" and called it an "isolated single case".
However, in May 2018 an Alexa device in Portland, Oregon, recorded a family's conversation
and sent it to one of their contacts without their knowledge. The company dismissed the

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incident as an "extremely rare occurrence" and claimed the device "interpreted background
conversation" as a sequence of commands to turn on, record, send the recording, and select a
specific recipient.

Alexa has been known to listen in on private conversations and store personal
information which was hacked and sent to the hacker. Although Amazon has announced that
this was a rare occurrence, Alexa shows the dangers of using technology and sharing private
information with robotics.

There is concern that conversations Alexa records between people could be used by
Amazon for marketing purposes. Privacy experts have expressed real concern about how
marketing is getting involved in every stage of people's lives without users noticing. This has
necessitated the creation of regulations that can protect users' private information from
technology companies.

A New Hampshire judge ruled in November 2018 that authorities could examine
recordings from an Amazon Echo device recovered from the home of murder victim Christine
Sullivan for use as evidence against defendant Timothy Verrilli. Investigators believe that the
device, which belonged to the victim's boyfriend, could have captured audio of the murder and
its aftermath.

During the Chris Watts interrogation/interview video at timestamp 16:15:15, Watts was
told by the interrogator, "We know that there's an Alexa in your house, and you know those are
trained to record distress ", indicating Alexa may send recordings to Amazon if certain
frequencies and decibels (that can only be heard during intense arguments or screams) are
detected.

Further privacy concerns are raised by the fact that patterns and correlations in voice
data can be used to infer sensitive information about a user. Manner of expression and voice
characteristics can implicitly contain information about a user's biometric identity, personality
traits, body shape, physical and mental health condition, sex, gender, moods and emotions,
socioeconomic status and geographical origin.

BULLYING
In 2021, the BBC reported that, as the result of the Amazon Alexa, bullying and
harassment of children, teenagers, and adults named "Alexa" has substantially increased, to the
extent that at least one child's parents decided to legally change her name; Amazon has replied

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by stating that bullying is unacceptable.

AVAILABILITY
As of November 2018, Alexa is available in 41 countries. Most recently, Alexa
launched in Brazil on October 3, 2019.

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CHAPTER-5
SUPPORTED DEVICES

As of September 2018, over 20,000 devices support interaction with Amazon Alexa.
Listed below are commercially available Alexa devices.

Smart speakers, TVs and media boxes Phones and tablets, Laptops and desktops, Smart
home, Wearables and earphones, Automotive and Others
ECHO DOT

Fig5.1: Echo dot

Wondering what Amazon Echo can do or whether you need one in your business.
What makes this speaker favourable than others on the market? We’re about to discover it.

Amazon Echo
First originated in late 2014, Amazon Echo is a 9.25-inch hands-free wireless speaker
you control with your speech. Thanks to voice command technology called “Alexa,” what’s
inside Amazon Echo is now accessible on other devices, including the Amazon Fire TV and
forthcoming Amazon Echo Dot and Amazon Tap.

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Fig5.2: simple to set up and use

5.1 ALEXA FUND
Given Amazon's strong belief in voice technologies, Amazon announced a US$100
million venture capital fund on June 25, 2015. By specifically targeting developers, device
makers and innovative companies of all sizes, Amazon aims at making digital voice assistants
more powerful for its users. Eligible projects for financial funding base on either creating new
Alexa capabilities by using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) or Alexa Voice Service (AVS).

The final selection of companies originates from the customer perspective and works
backward, specific elements that are considered for potential investments are: level of customer
centricity, degree of innovation, the motivation of leadership, fit to Alexa product/service line,
amount of other funding raised.

Besides financial support, Amazon provides business and technology expertise, help for
bringing products to the market, aid for hard- and software development as well as enhanced
marketing support on proprietary Amazon platforms.

The list of funded business includes (in alphabetical order): Defined Crows, Dragon
Innovation, Eco bee, Embodied Inc., Garage, Anoxia, kitt.ai, June, Luma, Mara, Mojito
(twice), Mosaic, Nucleus, Orange Chef, Owlet Baby Care, Patent, Rachid, Ring, Scout, IT
Rapid Support, Sutor, Thalamic Labs, Toy mail Co., Track, and Vesper.

5.2 ALEXA PRIZE

In September 2016, a university student competition called the Alexa Prize was
announced for November of that year. The prize is equipped with a total of $2.5 million and
teams and their universities can win cash and research grants. The process started with team
selection in 2016. The 2017 inaugural competition focuses on the challenge of building a Social

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Bot. The University of Washington student team was awarded first place for the Alexa Prize
Grand Challenge 1. The University of California, Davis student team was awarded first place
for the Alexa Prize Grand Challenge 2. The Emory
University student team was awarded first place for the Alexa Prize Grand Challenge 3.
AMAZON LEX
On November 30, 2016, Amazon announced that they would make the Speech
recognition and natural language processing technology behind Alexa available for developers
under the name of Amazon Lex. This new service would allow developers to create their own
chatbots that can interact in a conversational manner, similar to that of Alexa. Along with the
connection to various Amazon services, the initial version will provide connectivity to
Facebook messenger, with Slack and Twilio integration to follow.

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CHAPTER-6
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Advantages of Amazon Alexa:

• Easy to Operate
• Online Shopping is Among the major advantages of Amazon Alexa
• Non-Stop Music
• Timers and Alarms
• Reminders
• Far-field voice recognition
• Omni-directional sound
• Companion with Android, iOS, Desktops
• Bluetooth Enabled
• Echo can be extended with custom skills

Disadvantages of Amazon Alexa:

• Mishearing
• Slow Response and Bloatware
• Connection Drops are the Most Reported Disadvantages of Amazon Alexa
• Alexa has a Problem with Music
• Amazon Alexa Sometimes Stops Responding to Your Voice

Applications:
• Home Automation
• Remote Instruction
• Entertainment
• Shipment Status

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CHAPTER-7
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

CONCLUSION
Amazon Echo is a big step forward when it comes to voice control technology. It’s
always on microphones and integration with third-party apps means that there really are a ton
of things that you can do using just your voice. As the technology continues to improve, so will
the number of things you can do with Alexa!

FUTURE SCOPE
Alexa, Amazon's AI-powered voice assistant, provides the ecommerce titan with a
direct portal into tens of millions of consumer’s homes. As the installed base for its smart
speakers and other Alexa-enabled devices continues to grow — Business Insider Intelligence
estimates that there will be about 500 million smart speakers in US homes by 2024, with more
than half of them powered by Amazon's assistant — Amazon appears to be looking at new
ways that it can use Alexa to gather more information about those consumers as well as meet,
or even anticipate, their needs. Amazon is reportedly taking steps toward developing new Alexa
features and gathering data that could broaden the assistant's functionality. Here's what each
move means:
The company received a patent that could allow Alexa to take actions without requiring
a "wake word" to trigger it. Consumers would be able to say, for instance, "play music, Alexa,"
rather than needing to say the wake word "Alexa" before the command. Amazon is also looking
to improve camera-based body scanning, which could lead to a renaissance for devices like the
Echo Look. The company would need to weigh such benefits against potential backlash to a
mood-reading device, and consumer worries about the amount of data that the e-commerce
giant can access and wield for better targeting of ads and marketing.

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recognition system as experimental practices in an artificial intelligence and pattern
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“Improving student engagement on programming using app development with Android
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▪ Litovsk and H. Oropesa, “User interactions with ‘Alexa’ in public academic space,” Proc.
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▪ K. Srihari, V. Sakthivel, G. V. K. Reddy, S. Subchaser, P. Sanai, and E. Uday Kumar,
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▪ MIT App Inventor, https://appinventor.mit.edu/
▪ Android Studio, https://developer.android.com/studio
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Alexa
▪ https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa
▪ https://developer.amazon.com/alexa/console
▪ https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/alexa-voice-service/get-started- with-
alexa-voice-service.html

▪ https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa/alexa-skills-kit

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