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This is how the site looks!
Inspiration
We were inspired by how there is substantial overhead required in taking notes for meetings, which is especially burdensome in one-on-one meetings. So, we created an Alexa skill that handles note taking so the participants in the meeting have to worry about one less thing.
What it does
When the user wants to add a note about a meeting, the user can say, "Alexa, add the {title|section|note|question|answer} {content} to the notes." After that, Alexa will record that and display it in the site that contains the notes.
How we built it
We built it by creating an Alexa skill and connecting it to a lambda on Amazon AWS. The lambda on Amazon AWS sends the data collected from the Alexa skill to a quick Python server I set up on DigitalOcean. This python server keeps track of the meeting notes. A webpage will then make requests to the Python server for the information and render it in a fancy manner for the user.
Challenges we ran into
The largest challenge we ran into was that we could not find a way for Alexa to continuously run a skill without constantly giving intents or invocations. It makes sense; we wouldn't want to pretend to be the NSA in our skill. It was a major setback, but we decided to explicitly invoke the skill each time the user wants to take a note.
Another large challenge we ran into is that we initially wanted to dynamically update a Google Doc with the content of the meeting. However, the authentication proved to be a challenge, so we created our own server that could easily handle updates from the Lambda.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
The accomplishment we're most proud of is that we have a way to keep track of meeting notes in an organized manner.
What we learned
The biggest thing we learned from this experience is how to work with Alexa and Amazon AWS. We ran into hurdles at the beginning of the hackathon while we learned of the limitations of Alexa skills and AWS, but as time went on, we found ways around them.
What's next for Alexa Notetaker
A major thing we hope for is a way to capture meeting notes without explicitly invocating the Alexa skill. As it stands, invocating the Alexa skill in a meeting feels awkward, so we want to have a way to be able to capture meeting details without saying "Alexa" each time.
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