Inspiration
We have all been there. You want to do the right thing and put recyclables into the recycle bin, compostables into the compost bin and trash into the trash bin. And what about things like batteries? What do I do with those, can they go into the trash? I thought I heard the can't.
It's called bin freeze or recycle anxiety. Well, our mission is to end this scourge on being a green citizen. Become skilled at understanding what goes in what bin, become a master, become a Recycle Master
Recycle Master is an Alexa skill that makes it incredibly easy to find out what goes in what bin and sharpen your recycling and composting skills.
What it does
Recycle master does two things. One you can ask it questions about what bin to put something in - questions like:
Two, you can play a recycle quiz. Take the quiz and become a master. Recycle and compost anxiety will end! The quiz asks you about five items and where do they go, recycling, composting, trash or other e.g. they don't get pickup up curbside. When you are finished you can review any quiz items you got wrong and learn more.
The cherry on top is you get a recycle/green tip when you are done!
The game is full of some fun facts (try the questions above) and a bit of humor and snarkiness. The whole idea is to have fun while building skills and learning more!
Oh, and if you are using an Alexa device with a display, there are lots of reinforcing graphics! And of course it's multi-modal, you can touch the bin on screen to answer a question!
How I built it
This is build in Node.js using the Alexa ASK SDK. DynamoDB is used for persistence. The skill fully utilizes Dialog Management, Entity Resolution, Persistence (DynamoDB) and the graphics capabilities of the Show, Fire TV Cube and Spot.
Challenges I ran into
Getting good data on what is recyclable is hard. This really varies across the country. Plastic #4 may be recyclable in one community but not recyclable in another close by community. To solve for this, Recycle Master will let you know for some items, you need to contact your curbside waste and recycling company.
The future plan is to support Alexa buttons. This was in progress but proved challenging and due to bugs, the support was removed at the last minute. When this is implemented, you can use buttons to choose the bin during the quiz - making the game even more interactive and fun.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
It's great to work on Tech for Good. It makes one excited to think of how tech can solve some of the world's challenges. I'm inspired and have many more ideas!
What I learned
A ton about recycling. I thought I was pretty knowledgeable till I dove in. It turns out there are many more things recyclable than I thought and a few I was incorrectly putting into the recycling bin.
This was built with Alexa ASK 2.0 - that was new as my previous skills were built with ASK 1.0 - it was a challenge but a pleasure to work with this new framework.
What's next for Recycle Master
First off, more and even better great content. Content is king with voice skills. It should be engaging, fun, laughter-inducing and educational, all at the same time. That is both the challenge and the opportunity.
Secondly is adding, Echo button support - this will add to the gameplay!
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