Alexa offers a glimpse into the future – a world where artificial intelligence has the capacity to entertain, inform, and control the devices and services we use every day. Today, customers want the ability to reach out to Alexa anywhere, presenting an interesting challenge to you. As you prepare to create devices with Alexa built-in, you'll first need to learn what's required, what’s accessible in the cloud, and how you can customize your device. Here’s where to begin your journey:
Interaction Model
Envision how you want customers to interact with Alexa on your product – from across the room, hands-free, or with the press or tap of a button.
Hardware Requirements
You’ll need a microphone array for audio pickup, a processor to run the AVS client, internet connectivity to send audio to the cloud, and a speaker to play back audio for the customer.
Alexa Features
Consider how to design a product that takes advantage of the many cloud-based features and add-on capabilities that make Alexa products desirable for customers.
Information
Alexa helps you stay connected to the news and offers answers to your questions fast. Just ask for your Flash Briefing, weather or sports updates, information on nearby businesses, or how many cups are in a liter.
Streaming Media
Enhance the Alexa experience on your product by offering customers access to streaming media from providers like Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, and Audible.
Productivity
Alexa makes life easier by helping you multitask. Set kitchen timers, wake-up alarms, manage reminders, add items to your shopping or to-do lists, and ask what’s on your calendar.
Smart Home
Alexa enables you to control compatible smart home devices, such as lights, thermostats, and locks. Now with ESP, Alexa identifies the best voice-forward device to respond to your request.
Cloud-Based Intelligence
AVS handles complex automatic speech recognition (ASR), natural language understanding (NLU), and text-to-speech (TTS) processes in the cloud, making it easier for you to build AI-powered products.
Alexa Skills/Fun & Games
Give customers access to thousands of custom skills, including Domino’s, Uber, Jeopardy, and Starbucks on any device with Alexa built-in.
Different device types may require richer features to enable Alexa to express itself in the best possible way for the customer. We provide add-on capabilities, such as streaming media, graphical user interfaces, and proactive notifications to commercial device makers. These features require additional development work and testing to ensure the best user experience for end-customers.
Display Cards
Render visual content on your screen-based device, such as a “Now Playing” information for music and books, as well as visual displays for weather, To-Do and Shopping Lists, calendar updates, and skills.
Localization
Enable regional language models and content on your Alexa-enabled product to reach customers around the world. AVS enables customers to speak to Alexa in a variety of supported languages and regions.
Notifications
Proactively deliver content from Alexa skills and domains to your Alexa-enabled product, alerting customers about content they may have missed.
Tutorials
Start prototyping your own device with Alexa built-in using our self-service AVS tutorials.
Tech Docs
Get started with AVS by reading our technical documentation and registering as an Alexa developer.
AVS Forum
Post questions, share comments, and read about new ideas from other developers and engineers.
Developer Tools
Build with our range of development tools, including SDK, dev kits, system integrators, and ODM solutions.
FAQs
Have a question about AVS or a new feature? Read our FAQs for answers and resources.
