In this session, learn about the latest update to the Smart Home Skill API, featuring new capability interfaces you can use as building blocks to connect any device to Alexa, including those that fall outside of the traditional smart home categories of lighting, locks, thermostats, sensors, cameras, and audio & video gear. Also learn how to create Alexa Skills that contain multiple interaction models to provide a seamless customer experience. We walk through an example case study to demonstrate how you can implement these technologies to model any device or feature with Alexa.

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Connect Any Device
To Alexa
Rick Carragher
Director
Alexa Smart Home Technology
A L X 3 1 5 - R 2
Mark Aiken
Principal Engineer
Alexa Smart Home

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Agenda
How devices connect to Alexa
What’s new
• Next generation of Smart Home APIs
• Unified skills and name-free interaction
How it works

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Alexa smart home skills
Asynchronous responses, proactive state updates
Synchronous
responses
Customer
utterance
Directives Device control
AWS
Lambda
Smart device
manufacturer
cloud
Alexa cloudSmart home
skill

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Alexa smart home skills

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Alexa smart home skills

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Smart Home APIs
• Target the most common
device functions
• Have specific semantics
• Come with Amazon-built
voice models
• Can be mixed and matched
Features
Popularity

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What about device functions not covered by the
Smart Home APIs?

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Custom voice models
• Can create any voice
experience, no assumptions
… but:
• Introduce a second skill
• Must be localized
• Different voice invocation

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Three integration options
Specialized
capabilities
Primitive
capabilities
Custom voice
model

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PowerController
INSERT PHOTO OF POWER SWITCH (LIKE A LEVER OR BUTTON

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ModeController
INSERT PHOTO OF MODE SWITCH (WASHING MACHINE SETTINGS)

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RangeController
INSERT PHOTO OF RANGE SLIDER (LIKE SOMETHING FROM A SOUND MIXER)

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Unified skills
• Can still design any voice
experience
• Unify your smart home
and custom skills
• Name-free interaction
• Can be used to “round out”
the VUI for either
specialized or primitive
capabilities

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Hands-on example
• Let’s enable voice control for a smart shower
• But, there’s no Alexa.ShowerController
• A look at the physical capabilities of the device:

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Quick recap: Discovery
• Smart home appliances are added via Alexa.Discovery
• Described as endpoints with one or more capabilities
• All endpoints must implement the Alexa interface

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Example: Discovery.Response header

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Example: Discovery.Response endpoint

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Example: Discovery.Response capabilities

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Turning it on and off
“Alexa, start the shower”, “Alexa, stop the shower”
• Using the existing Alexa.PowerController

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Example: Alexa.PowerController

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Controlling individual toggle settings
“Alexa, turn on the overhead shower”
• Using: Alexa.ToggleController
• There’s two of them – An overhead and a handheld shower
• Multiple interfaces of the same kind? Use capability instances

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Example: ToggleController

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Customers use friendly names
• Instance name is the programmatic identifier
• Friendly name is what customers use when interacting with Alexa
• Friendly names can have synonyms
• Only the first name shows in the Alexa app
• But, customers can use synonyms by voice

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Example: Capability friendly names

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When a customer says …
”Alexa, turn on the overhead shower”
• Alexa sends a TurnOn directive
“Alexa, turn off the overhead shower”
• Alexa sends a TurnOff directive

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Example: TurnOn directive

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Other uses of Alexa.ToggleController
• Child lock on an oven
• Extra rinse or extra spin on a washer
• Guest Wi-Fi on a router

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Controlling the water temperature
“Alexa, set the water temperature to 96 degrees”
• Using: Alexa.RangeController
• Sets a value within a range

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Example: RangeController

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Configuration for range values
• Minimum value and maximum value are required
• Precision is optional, defaults to 1
• Unit of measure is optional

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Example: RangeController configuration

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Not everyone thinks in degrees Fahrenheit
“Alexa, set the shower to warm”
• Declare one or more presets
• A preset maps a range value to one or more friendly names

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Example: Range presets

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When a customer says …
”Alexa, set the shower to 103 degrees”
“Alexa, set the shower to hot”
• Alexa sends a SetRangeValue directive

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Example: SetRangeValue directive

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When a customer says…
“Alexa, decrease the water temperature by 5 degrees”
• Alexa sends an AdjustRangeValue directive

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Example: AdjustRangeValue directive

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Other uses of Alexa.RangeController
• Speed on an fan
• Download speed on a router (read-only)
• Gain on an amplifier

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Choosing a mode of operation
“Alexa, set the shower to preset one”
• Using: Alexa.ModeController
• Modes let users choose one out of multiple possible values

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Example: ModeController

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Example: Supported modes

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When a customer says…
“Alexa, turn on post workout shower”
• Alexa sends a SetMode directive

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Example: SetMode directive

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Other uses of Alexa.ModeController
• Cycle on a washer
• Temperature on a dryer can be Low/Medium/High (ordered)

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Bonus slide: Ordered Alexa.ModeController

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When a customer says…
“Alexa, increase the dryer temperature”
• Alexa sends a AdjustMode directive

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Bonus slide: AdjustMode directive

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Alexa predefined friendly names
• Use them whenever possible
• Get localization and synonyms for free
• Users benefit from a more uniform experience

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Example: Friendly name asset for capability

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Example: Friendly name asset for preset

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Create your own friendly name catalogs
• Centralized management of strings
• All languages and synonyms defined in a single file
• Make updates to the catalog via the Alexa developer portal

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Example: Friendly name catalog

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Add your own voice experience
”Alexa, create a new shower preset”
• Expand the existing set of smart home intents
• Create a unified skill with custom and smart home models
• Use the Alexa.CustomIntent capability, declare your supported intents

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Example: CustomIntent

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Once again, from the top
We just built our very own ’ShowerController’ by combining:
• 1 PowerController: To turn entire appliance on and off
• 2 ToggleControllers: To control two independent settings
• Overhead shower
• Handheld shower
• 1 RangeController: To set the water temperature
• 60 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit
• With presets for ‘cold’, ‘warm’, and ‘hot’
• 1 ModeController: To choose from multiple modes of operation
• ‘Post Workout Shower’ (also ‘Preset 1’) and ‘Preset 2’

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Did you notice?
• Many voice command examples were missing appliance name
• Alexa lets users form implicit commands
• Disambiguation needed in case of conflicts
Explicit
• Alexa, turn on guest Wi-Fi on the router
• Alexa, set the wash cycle in the washer to
delicates
• Alexa, set the mode of the shower to
morning shower
Implicit
• Alexa, turn on guest Wi-Fi
• Alexa, set the washer to delicates
• Alexa, turn on morning shower

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Related breakouts
Thursday, 29th
Voice Assistants Beyond Smart Speakers - Integrate Alexa into Your Unique Product
4:00pm – 5:00pm | MGM
Friday, 30th
Supercharge Any Alexa Skill by Understanding What Games Do
8:30am – 9:30am | Venetian

63. Thank you!
© 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Rick Carragher
Director
Alexa Smart Home Technology
Mark Aiken
Principal Engineer
Alexa Smart Home

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