What is Alexa Skill?
Skills are like apps for Alexa. You can already choose from thousands of skills to make Alexa to fit your lifestyle, from ordering a pizza to requesting a ride in the skills section of the Alexa app. Alexa Skills work across Amazon Echo devices, Amazon Fire TV Sticks, personal mobile devices with the Alexa app, and at SCSU we have Amazon Echo devices located the the Residential Hall Front Desks. When you think about what’s possible with an Alexa Skill, be sure to think about the wide variety of devices & experiences available to you.
Skill Blueprints
In Skill Blueprints, you can use templates to create your own personal Alexa skill in minutes. Using blueprints, you can create custom games, unique stories, or personal lists. For example, you can write a trivia skill about SCSU and say, “Alexa, open My SCSU Trivia” to play it whenever you like.
To figure out what kind of skill you’d like to make, you can browse blueprints in the following categories:
- Fun & Games
- At Home
- Storyteller
- Learning & Knowledge
Tip: There’s no limit to the number of skills you can make, so create as many as you like.
How it works
The following video shows how easy it is to create a skill using blueprints.
Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6k26rt5Do
Create an AWS Developer Account
Navigate to https://developer.amazon.com/ and Sign Up!
Create a Custom Skill
Navigate to https://developer.amazon.com/alexa/console/ask/create-new-skill
Try Alexa Blueprint
Alexa Blueprint is an easy way to get started with Alexa which enables anyone, anywhere to build out an Alexa skill with no coding required.
Navigate to blueprints.amazon.com to build quizzes, post lectures and provide answers to common questions and more.
Try a Q&A Chatbot
Want to build an Information Desk experience that can help solve day-to-day support questions via a chat and Alexa experience? Build a fully functional Q&A Chatbot by visiting: www.amazon.com/qnabot.
Other Resources
- Code samples: https://github.com/alexa/
- Sample Demos: https://github.com/alexa/alexa-cookbook/tree/master/feature-demos
- Alexa Skill Kit Overview