10/16/18
This week, I created an Amazon AWS account and Alexa skill builder account. I spent a lot of time following along with YouTube videos to work towards developing my first Alexa skill. Talking my idea through with Professor Ault helped immensely in figuring out what direction I should go. After some thought, I realized a touchscreen UI was an impractical way to implement a cooking aid. Voice would be much more fitting for a hands-free experience. I am assuming my skill will fit into the Smart Home category because I would need lighting control, but I will figure out the specifics later. The reason I am getting started with Alexa skills so early is because I want to test if it is possible for me to build what I envision on this platform. The sooner I can test it out, the faster I will learn my limitations and potential roadblocks. Also they’re giving out a free Echo Dot if I can get a loose concept published in time 🙂
I have reached out to Dr. Nakra to meet up and learn more about RFID technology, which might come in handy when I start with the physical portion of my project.
10/17/18
I’ve started building an Alexa skill based on my thesis idea. Although I’m working off example templates for now, I’m already facing some challenges with learning constant variable names and how to translate what I’m trying to do into code. I also researched the meaning of a trademark and how to avoid unknowingly publishing someone else’s protected content.
10/18/18
I met with Dr. Nakra today and we discussed RFID technology. I learned that RFID is able to pick up signals without direct contact, and since spice bottles are small and close together, it might cause a mix up with which spice ID is being picked up by the base sensor. I plan to reach out to Dr. Nakra’s husband to see if he has a workaround to this or another direction he can point me in.
Another possible technical approach…
– A small camera mounted over the shelves, looking downward toward the shelves.
– From top to bottom, each successive shelf sticks out a little more than the other, so that the camera can see the top of all the bottles on al the shelves.
– Each bottle cap has a unique graphic on top (same idea as a QR code but better looking) that allows the camera to distinguish one from another, allows the system to know where each bottle is, and light up the appropriate bottle(s).