Integrate Alexa home into Blueprint

[hilljh82]

This issue is to track the progress of integrating Alexa home into Blueprint. It will be a module that allows you to configure routes to handle commands from Alexa for the skill defined by your application.

[trentspi]

Can you accomplish this solely using lambda functions and the Alexa Skills Kit? Are you planning to use any other AWS microservices? Maybe Lex? This seems very interesting.

[hilljh82]

@trentspi By Lambda functions, I assume you are referencing AWS Lambda. That is possible, but the lambda functions are part of the AWS platform. Blueprint is a stand-alone application server that can run on any machine that supports Node.js. Amazon Lambda is a platform that runs "functions" for you in a container that is designed to scale as your need more computing resources. This is not the same as Blueprint.

[trentspi]

Sorry for my misunderstanding. So are you planning on building support for the Alexa home using Node.js and blueprint completely independent of any AWS microservices then? I was thinking more along the lines of interacting with the Alexa AI using the AWS Lambda skills kit for interpreting commands as an integrated blueprint module but this seems to be different. How will you listen for voice commands in order to configure routes for a blueprint application? The Alexa Home will actively listen for the keyword "Alexa" correct?