API.hack | Alexa

Voice-control technology has finally matured to a point where it is being adopted by the majority. Siri, Cortana, and Google have all contributed to this adoption and now Amazon has joined the party with Alexa. Less than a year old, Alexa has already made a sizable impact on the world. This is because users interface with Alexa through the Amazon Echo device, which can easily connect to other devices on the cloud. Even more exciting is that with the help of hardware like Raspberry Pi and Arduino, essentially anything electronic can now be voice-controlled with the proper hacking, and so that's exactly what API.hack | Alexa is all about!

Event Details:

The API.hack | Alexa hackathon will take place on Friday, May 13th and Saturday, May 14th at Invent Coworking in Bellingham, WA. On Friday evening, dinner will be provided and staff from Amazon will teach a workshop on how to use the Alexa Skills Kit and the Smart Home Skill API. After the conclusion of the workshop, we'll adjourn for the evening and return the next morning to kick off the development portion of the hackathon.

Saturday will begin with breakfast and team formation (maximum of 4 people per team) with lunch and dinner served later in the day. Once teams have been formed, Amazon will provide each team with a device to work with as well as expertise on how to use Echo and its API. We'll finish out the event with demos, judging and awards on Saturday night. A judging panel will select the best project of the day and the winning team will receive a prize package that includes an Echo device for each team member!

About Alexa and her API:

Alexa is a cloud-based voice service that powers Amazon Echo and is built on AWS. Alexa provides capabilities, known as skills, to users so that they may interact with connected devices in a more intuitive way using voice. Examples of current skills include the ability to play music, answer general questions, set an alarm or timer, and even work with smart home devices like lights and thermostats. At the API.hack | Alexa hackathon we'll be working with Alexa to develop the coolest and most cutting-edge skills imaginable!

The key to expanding Alexa's skills is the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), which is a collection of self-service APIs, tools, documentation and code samples. A new addition to the Alexa Skills Kit was announced in April 2016 and is known as the Smart Home Skill API. This new API can be used to allow Alexa to control devices that belong to the Internet of Things (IoT).

Event schedule (tentative):

Day 1: Friday, May 13th, 2016

5:30pm | Register and then socialize
6:00pm | Dinner
6:30pm | Alexa developer workshop (Presented by Amazon)
9:00pm | Go home and get some sleep

Day 2: Saturday, May 14th, 2016

8:00am | Breakfast & team formation
(Bright and early... Just focus on getting here, we'll have plenty of caffeine)
9:00am | Echo devices distributed = hacking begins!
Noon | Lunch
5:30pm | Dinner
7:00pm | Project development ends
7:15pm | Demos
8:00pm | Judging
8:30pm | Winners announced

Sponsors:

• Amazon
• Invent Coworking
• Hack Bellingham
• The Foundry
• WWU Computer Science Department
• Bellingham Entrepreneurs

Food Sponsors:

• The Bagelry

Logistics:

You bring:

• Laptop
• hardware that you would like to integrate with Alexa (optional)

We supply:

• Dinner Friday and breakfast, lunch, and dinner Saturday
• An Amazon Echo device for each team to work with for the day
• WiFi, electrical power, and a workspace
• CAFFEINE

Prizes for the winning team:

• Amazon Echo device for each member (up to 4)
• 1 Year Free Tickets to Invent Coworking events (Startup Challenge, Pitch Fest, etc.)

Registration:

• Each participant must register though Eventbrite
• Teams will be assembled Saturday morning. Teams can be up to 4 members, you can come with a pre-determined team or find a team on Saturday. There's no need to worry if you don't have a team before the event, we encourage people to sign up even if they don't have a pre-determined team.
• There will be a registration desk upon your arrival on Friday night. Please provide your Eventbrite ticket. Students who used the student discount promo code, "student", will also need to provide a valid student ID.

Rules:

• Demos must work. No pure design mockups.
• Fresh code only. APIs and libraries are fine (as long as you didn't write them). Winners may have code reviewed.

Dietary Preferences:

• When you purchase your ticket for this event, the checkout form will include a place to enter your dietary preferences
• Given that we work hard to keep ticket prices low, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to accomodate any dietary preferences that are stated on the checkout form
• You should therefore assume that all meals that we provide will not accommodate any particular dietary preferences, but we will do our best to do so