“Alexa, get my coffee”:
Using the Amazon Echo in Research

Megan Zimmerman

10:30am Monday, 7 December 2015, ITE 346

The Amazon Echo is a remarkable example of language-controlled, user-centric technology, but also a great example of how far such devices have to go before they will fulfill the longstanding promise of intelligent assistance. In this talk, we will describe the Interactive Robotics and Language Lab‘s work with the Echo, with an emphasis on the practical aspects of getting it set up for development and adding new capabilities. We will demonstrate adding a simple new interaction, and then lead a brainstorming session on future research applications.

Megan Zimmerman is a UMBC undergrad majoring in computer science working on interpreting language about tasks at varying levels of abstraction, with a focus on interpreting abstract statements as possible task instructions in assistive technology.