Numbers Guru - An Alexa skill for kids

Good at numbers ? Let numbers guru test you in a way you will like it.

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Inspiration

I built this skill initially for my 8-Year-old daughter to improve her mental math skill. who was happy to interact with Alexa. She liked it and was happy listening to her scores, and increasing the daily high score. Then came an Idea, that I can help other kids as well by publishing this to public Alexa market.

What it does

It generates an unlimited variety of math questions dynamically and validates the answer provided by users. It also keeps track of Session score for each user and also keeps track of all time high score from all users around the world. Users can choose 3 levels of questions (easy, medium and hard). Within each level, the skill is coded such a way that, the questions asked in the beginning are easier and the difficulty level increases smartly. It keeps track of how the user is performing while the session is on. In this way, the skill is smart enough to provide the questions in way users are comfortable to answer. The skill is designed to send the Card messages on Alexa app. This way user can see what is being said via Alexa device.

How I built it

I used AWS Lambda and Other AWS services (s3, API Gateway) to build functionalities required to power this skill. Used Python and Flask to code the programs.

Challenges I ran into

To handle errors with the unexpected answer was one of the challenges for me. Also, to keep track of scores for the entire user base.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am proud of the overall outcome of this skill. My daughter uses this skill on a daily basis, she is getting benefitted out of this Alexa skill. I am also sure many other kids like my daughter will take the benefits of this skill. This skill is developed to provide fun full education for kids. Definitely, time spent with this skill is going help kids in a positive way.

What I learned

Learned how to built Complex Alexa Skill and many other AWS services that I can utilize for my future projects.

What's next for numbers guru.

I am planning to add more interesting dynamic questions generators, Keeps track of individual high scores. The main feature I want to add is to email the worksheet on request. Basically User requests send me a math worksheet for Grade 1, level 5. Alexa will generate the worksheet along with answer sheet and email the PDF to users. A lot of ideas in my mind, trying to make my time after work hours to complete those.

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