IOTA developer Hugo Gregersen has published a new tutorial explaining the manner in which users can integrate IOTA covenant with Alexa, the popular virtual assistant offered by Amazon.
In that manner, users will be able to find out the number of IOTA tokens held in their Trinity wallet.
Gregersen clarified that the Amazon Alexa app permits coders to develop “Alexa skills” that function like voice-enabled smartphone app.
As a result, the virtual assistant can understand and communicate with other kind of services, IOTA covenant in this case.
The coder further details that IOTA’s integration with Amazon Alexa facilitates improvement of Alexa user experience. They can utilize the virtual assistant in several use cases.
The coder explains by providing example of an assumed hotel owner who utilizes the app to give out a voice directive and assess the balance in the wallet linked to other gadgets and services.
For this purpose, the user need not possess a gadget or any other app, but only requisites installation of Alexa on his smart phone.
Regersen details that the procedure for developing an Alexa Skill can be carried out through the Alexa Developer Console. It is possible through AWS Lambda, an Amazon cloud platform, which belongs to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Using the platform, coders can upload and run Python code that utilizes the Alexa skill developed:
“(…) we define how we will interact with Alexa so that she understands our intent during the conversation. Next, we take the Python code where we have all the functions needed for our new Alexa Skill and upload the code as a hosted AWS Lambda function in the Amazon Web Services cloud. Next, we “connect” our Alexa Skill to the Lambda function so that Alexa know what code and functions to run when we interact with her. And finally, we test our new Alexa Skill.”
To develop an Alexa Skill, coders can easily open a cost free account and enter the Alexa Developer Console using the appropriate link. After logging in, developers will be able to use multiple tools that can be accessed by other members of community or users who want to develop their own Alexa Skill to incorporate it with IOTA.
After this, the user has to input an array of specifications such as laying out the calling up provisions for Alexa, the purpose and the codewords that trigger the app. For instance, a code phrase created for checking Trinity wallet could be “Check IOTA Balance.” During the same period, Gregersen stated as follows:
“The simplest way to get you started with creating your own version of this project (such as changing the IOTA addresses used for checking balances) is to simply modify the lambda_function.py file inside the .zip file and upload the modified .zip file to your existing Lambda function.”
