I presented a talk last week for members of the Hull Computer Science Society (HullCSS) titled ‘How to get a free Amazon Echo’. In the talk, I discussed the basics of what Alexa is and how skills work. I then gave a basic introduction on how students can get involved in developing skills for them. We covered topics such as how Alexa handles Natural Language, how to use AWS to handle data given to your skills, and the different types of Skills you can develop for Alexa.

 

If you’re considering building a Skill, and you’re a member of HullCSS, get in touch and I might be able to lend you an Echo Dot to test it out. If you’re getting to the final stages of your build, we can help you test it out. There’s a wealth of resources online if you need them!

PowerPoint

If you attended the course, or you’re curious and want to get started, you can find the PowerPoint linked below. It contains most of the information given, either on slides or in the notes. I designed this talk to be a beginners introduction to Alexa. You can find more resources online, from Amazon and other bloggers.

Get the Presentation here