In early 2021, I got the assignment to create a helpful and functional application for people that suffer from different types of brain conditions.
What is Robin Assistant?
Robin Assistant is a company that has been focusing on the task of helping people with a serious brain condition performing simple day to day tasks. The company has great ideas and used the last couple of years in understanding the needs of people with a serious brain condition.
They visited multiple confrences and talked with caretakers to understand the needs of these this audience.
The Audience
We got the honorable job to help Robin Assistant to create an application wherein people can independently perform day-to-day tasks. First of all, we had to understand what type of tasks they needed help with: we had to understand what conditions the audience could have.
Research in the Dutch governmental organization CBS (Central Agency of Statistics) showed us that most people with a brain condition suffered from the autism spectrum, Down syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and various forms of dementia.
This is interesting, as our target audience was so broad and specific at the same time: we had to focus on how they would use an application.
The first thing that came to our minds was creating an app with an interface wherein we can guide them through several daily tasks. On the other hand: after doing our extensive research, we knew that some people would have trouble reading small screens. Also creating a new habit of opening a phone app wouldn't be perfect for people suffering from autism.
Alexa, how can you help us?
This is how we got the idea to create our application within Amazon Alexa. For people that don't know Alexa: Alexa is a voice assistant that lives on several devices. From Amazon's very own Echo speakers to Ford cars. Alexa has a very familiar voice and feels like a friend. Research showed that people suffering from brain conditions would feel very comfortable with the Alexa voice assistant.
Designing an Alexa skill
It was somewhat of a challenge to create an Alexa skill. No one of us has ever done this ever before. But I love to learn new skills (pun intended), so I tried to find as much information as I could about creating an Alexa skill.
Training the AI
The best, and worst, thing about creating an Alexa skill is the training of the AI. Every step of the way, we have to think about what users could ask and incorporate that in the app. In the end, we added more than 100 various replies to all steps. The best part is that Alexa automatically learns. So she even understands some variations that we didn't enter ourselves: AI doing its best job!
Testing, testing Testing
What is the most important thing about creating an Alexa skill? Testing of course! It's impossible to think about all the variations that people can ask Alexa. This is why we did tests throughout the entire development of this skill.
The end product
I think that I can be very proud of the work that I have delivered with this Alexa skill. I'm proud with the way how we could help people that are otherwise underrepresented by big tech.