Daily Walk Game

This is for illustrative purpose.
Combined walks and games.
The distance and direction will be announced, so let's walk to that point. (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
You can know the distance and direction with your smartphone.
Custom Tasks with Alexa Routines.

Inspiration

I wanted to create a skill that could make more use of Echo Buds. And I wanted to increase the opportunities to use the Echo Buds for purposes other than listening to music. I combined Echo Buds with walking and geolocation to create a alexa skill you'll want to use again and again.

What it does

You can take a walk every day as if you were on an adventure. The starting point is where you launched the alexa skill. Actually walk outside toward the distance and direction presented from the alexa skill. This is a game where you can enjoy how close you are to the point presented by the alexa skill.

The distance suggested by the skill is around 1000m, but the actual walking distance is longer than the suggested distance because the road is not straight.

If you want to know the current distance and direction, ask for a hint. And start correct walking direction. Then, at what you think is the goal point, say check. judge the results. Close to zero is great.

Additionally, using Custom Tasks with Alexa Routines allows you to pre-set the direction.

How we built it

I used Location Services. And I used a library called giolib to calculate the distance and direction. I thought it would be interesting to convey the target point (target area) from the alexa skill.

Added a custom task to pre-set the direction in Routines.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was having to publish to the US skill store. This skill uses location information, but I live in Japan, so I haven't tested it on American land. Therefore, I was worried whether my alexa skills would work well and whether I would be certified by the deadline. Finally, I was able to publish my alesa skill in the US skill store. This was a great experience.

The direction is determined randomly, so the user cannot decide which direction to go. Therefore, the test was difficult. So I thought to used Custom Tasks with Alexa Routines.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I think that I could create a skill that can make more use of Echo Buds. And I was able to create a alexa skill that matches the theme of this "Skills Challenge:".

What we learned

I could create a location-services skill without having to be on American land.

Geolocation is hard to test. I had to walk 1-2 km every day on Japanese land. Since one way is about 1000m, it will be 2000m round trip. I thought it would be good exercise. As a result, it became a little slimmer. But this was a good achievement for me..

After all it is fun to use Alexa outdoors.