LEGO MINDSTORMS Voice Challenge

We are giving away up to $100,000 in prizes to the top creations, and first 100 submissions that have the required information listed in the submission requirements. Our judges will pick the top creations based on the judging criteria outlined in the Rules section.

Use the information here to learn about the tools, resources, and skills you will need to build a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 creation that works with Alexa!

Register to Get Updates

• Start by creating a free account on Hackster.io (or sign-in if already a member).
• Register for the contest by clicking “Register as a participant” and opt-in to receive contest updates.

Start Building

We have provided an instructional series that walk you through building an example LEGO Mindstorms EV3 creation that works with Alexa. Whether you are new to Alexa and LEGO Mindstorms or quite knowledgeable, we suggest everyone start here to learn how to get set up and start building:

Setup

Once you complete Setup, you will proceed to additional missions that are designed to walk you through building an example creation that works with Alexa. Links are provided below for reference but you can also access these from each mission as you go through.

• Mission 1
• Mission 2
• Mission 3
• Mission 4

Each subsequent mission builds upon the last and will take you step-by-step in building a fully functional, example Mindstorms EV3 robot that interacts with an Alexa Skill.

Once You're Building Your Own Creation

After you start designing and building your idea, visit the contest discussion to get help from us and other participants. This is the best spot to make sure your questions and thoughts are seen.

For additional help with Alexa, feel free to browse the Alexa Gadgets Developer Forum (be sure to use the topic “lego voice challenge” in any questions you ask).

Between the ages of 13 and 17? Make sure to include this completed consent form in your project submission.

Learn More

These resources are referenced in throughout our missions and will come in handy as you learn more about the different ways you can create your own LEGO Mindstorms EV3 creation that works with Alexa.

• Alexa Gadgets Toolkit Overview
• Alexa Gadgets Toolkit Documentation
• Alexa Gadgets Raspberry Pi Samples
• Alexa Skills Kit Documentation
• EV3Dev Overview
• EV3 Python API Documentation
• EV3Dev Python Robot Examples
• YouTube Video: Voice & Robotics, Episode 3 (Musical Keyboard, using Color Cycler)
• Alexa Gadgets Developer Forum (be sure to use the topic “lego voice challenge”)

Other Information

Judging Criteria

Eligible Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges on a 100 point scale. See the Official Rules.

Submission Checklist

Make sure that your contest submission includes the following information:

• Name, introduction, and description of your submission.
• Video demo of working prototype.
• Submission walk-through showing how you created your project, key code snippets, images, screenshots, and video.
• Working gadget source code (1+ Python files).
• Working skill source code. Ideally a single Node.js Lambda file if you choose the Alexa-hosted route. Otherwise, it can be written in a language of choice supported by Lambda, e.g. Node.js, Python, etc.
• Optional (but encouraged): Assets and instructions enabling others to build your project. This includes LEGO build instructions, coding instructions, and LEGO hardware components list.