Geek's Lab

Overview

As a hardware and embedded developer, we always face problem adjusting in new electronics lab or even our own lab. Sometimes we find it difficult to surf through the components, tools and present inventory. We got excited when we first heard about hackster.io competition for Alexa. We started combining the elements and came up with the idea of a smart geek's lab where Alexa will act as a lab associate, Where you can ask her to help you with finding the components, suggest you with some good books for learning electronics. Alexa would eventually turn on photon devices which we connected in our lab. Each photon device represents location of the components, tools or project kept in our lab. Alexa will turn on the led connected on the photon device to point out the. location of that particular thing which you need or want We have also created a skill using the sample code provide by Amazon for echo device for trivia questions. Where when the user creates any projects successfully then he/she can also take the test. We are also extending the skill where each photon device will represent each set and stock of material and you can literary find the location of anything in your lab by just commanding Alexa to do it. Below is the architecture.

Video 1

We split the video into multiple modules to show the implementation of "Geek's Lab". The first video below shows our setup of 12 photons which are kept in our lab in different locations. Each photon consist of 3 LED and Each of the photon represent the different tools, components, books etc locations.

Video 2

The second video shows our implementation of Alexa Voice Service on Raspberry pi B+. We had followed the instruction give in this link to implement it. We will be primarily using this setup to control our photon devices and recommend or inform user in the Geek's Lab.

Video 3

The third video shows the demo of Geek's Lab. When the user asks Alexa about "What are some good projects in our lab", then Alexa will respond and give the details to the user about the projects in the lab. And then the user can find the location of the project by simply triggering the word "Awesome Projects". The Alexa in return will turn on the LED of the photon which are attached to the projects and represent their location. In this video, it will turn on the location of a tele-presence robot which we had experimented around a year back and a 4 bit adder circuit made using discrete components.

Video 4

The Fourth Video shows the demonstration of how Alexa suggests you some good books to begin learning with the electronics. When the user triggers the word, Alexa will indicate where the books are in the lab.

Video 5

The Fifth Video shows Alexa as a companion who tells or suggests the user about what hands on project he/she can make. It will indicate to the required location of tools, components and materials. when combined with a short quiz, the user can be suggested with the hands on activity he/she can make depending upon their score. This is shown in the sixth video.

Video 6

The Sixth video shows about how Alexa can test the knowledge of the person who had completed the hands on activity in the Lab. "Theory without practice is empty and practice without theory is Blind!" We have given the code which is provided in this link .

Our Main concept in the overall project was to present Alexa as an associate which will work with you and suggest you with the activities and also help you build your own projects by recommending and pointing out the right tools and components for your hands on activity. The limitation does not ends here, the Alexa will also take your test and keep an eye on your performance so that it can recommend the user depending upon the progression.