Simplify Your Life With the Amazon Dash Replenishment Service

Whether it’s an empty bottle of laundry detergent after a weekend camping trip or no coffee beans on a Monday morning, we all hate the “ran out of it” moment. As IoT technology has continued to evolve, Amazon believes there are more opportunities than ever to help consumers and businesses avoid the “ran out of it” moment by enabling connected devices to automatically reorder consumable products. The result is Dash Replenishment Service (DRS).

Launched in 2015, DRS provides connected gadgets with direct access to Amazon’s powerful retail platform. With easy-to-use APIs, manufacturers can take advantage of Amazon’s authentication and payment systems, customer service, and fulfillment network to build unique automatic reordering experiences for customers — like a dishwasher that reorders detergent pods before your next family dinner or a printer that ensures you always have enough ink.

After integrating with Amazon services like Login with Amazon (LWA) and Simple Notification Service (SNS), a simple API call allows a manufacturer to place a product order on behalf of a customer.

Most DRS-enabled connected machines share the following core components: sensors to measure consumption (e.g. weight, density, count), communication module (e.g. Wi-Fi, BLE) to send consumption data to the cloud, microprocessor (to run your business logic/manage signals from your sensors), and customer setup / configuration.

As Amazon looks to usher in the next generation of unique customer experiences built around DRS, it has a challenge for the Hackster community: create something great that helps advance the DRS vision of automatic or low-friction consumable replenishment.

While you can create a customer-facing connected device or new uses for their APIs, Amazon is also interested in the foundational building blocks like sensors and communication modules upon which great DRS-enabled appliances are built.

To participate in the “Amazon DRS Developer Challenge,” first submit an idea for what you want to make with Amazon DRS. The top 50 ideas will receive a $100 cash prize. From there, develop your project and enter to win one of three grand prizes. Winners will receive a 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display.

Keep in mind, each project must be fully documented on Hackster using the “project” template and should include images, instructions, bill of materials, schematics, code, and CAD (if any).

Life is complicated enough, so why not simplify our daily routines? Check out the contest page to learn more and get started!