Developers Go ‘Hands-Free’ With Amazon Alexa Project on GitHub

Last month we announced an Alexa Voice Service (AVS) API update and new project for Raspberry Pi that let Makers, for the first time, build a voice-activated prototype that responds to the “Alexa” wake word. Since then, thousands of developers have downloaded the project from GitHub, and shared their creations on Hackster.io, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more.

It’s been so great to see what the developer community has built using the new API capabilities. Below we’ve highlighted one community-built, hands-free project. If you’ve developed a wake word-enabled Amazon Alexa prototype for Raspberry Pi, make sure you share a video of it in action on Twitter using the hashtag #avsDevs.

Over the summer, we ran a contest in which we challenged developers to come up with new and interesting use cases for Alexa. Entrants included new skills built using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), as well as prototypes built using AVS. The “Internet of Voice Challenge” drew 101 submissions from developers across the world, and we announced the winners in September 2016.

Second-place winner in the AVS category, Darian Johnson, built a touch-activated smart mirror that people can use to get weather reports, traffic updates, and daily reminders, send SMS messages, and even take selfies by just pushing a button and asking Alexa.

With the release of the new hands-free capabilities through AVS last month, Johnson updated the Mystic Mirror prototype to include wake word detection. Now he can go through his morning routine with even greater efficiency by simply asking Alexa for the weather, news, and traffic reports — hands-free. Read Johnson’s full project summary on Hackster.io, and check out the hands-free demo below!

This is just one example of a hands-free prototype created by the Alexa community since we launched the latest API update in early October. We love to see imaginative projects shared throughout our community. If you’ve developed a unique hands-free Alexa prototype, share your work on Twitter using the hashtag #avsDevs and we’ll include it in the next round-up.

You can build your own hands-free prototype by visiting the Alexa GitHub.