Inspiration
We knew we wanted to use Amazon Echo to enable voice-assistance to an existing service or come up with something entirely new.
What it does
As it is, the flight assistant receives a voice input of airline and flight number; the program takes these two values and references the Laminar flight data API and return its next departure date, time, and minutes past expected departure time (for delays).
How we built it
The lambda function utilized node.js, and was implemented using Alexa Skills Kit on AWS. The intent schema and sample utterances were detailed separately as well as part of the Alexa Skill development.
Challenges we ran into
Implementing the API was a challenge for us that we wanted to tackle and weren't able to with previous ideas during the hackathon. Javascript, product-building and API implementation were all entirely new to us, so we relied entirely on observing existing Alexa skill code, improving on them and attempting to create our own. We also ran into some debugging issues where the skill was not registering certain airlines and found that the zip files (with .js) were not properly compressed when uploaded into the lambda function.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of having been able to tackle and utilize new languages to create products we've had no experience with building before.
What we learned
We learned the basics of Javascript and how to build Alexa skills, from zero prior knowledge
What's next for Flight Schedule Assistant
We originally really wanted to build a service that could initiate transactions, such as request a car or buy movie tickets, but didn't have the time to learn how to implement it. If this assistant sees further revision, I would like to implement booking ability and logistics assessment as to how long it would take to get to the airport from wherever you are currently.
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