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Echo, a cylindrical device, about a foot tall and 4 inches in diameter, is placed in the corner of a large conference room at the Amazon Development Centre in Perungudi, Chennai. Asked: “Alexa, what is the weather in Chennai?”; it responds: “The weather in Chennai currently is 32 degrees, humid and there is possibility of rain in the evening.”
“Alexa, how tall is Mt Everest?” Pat comes the reply: “Mt Everest is 29,029 ft or 8,848 m.”
From an online bookseller to voice-enabled, Internet of Things speaker Echo, e-commerce giant Amazon has come a long way.
Amazon Echo, an internet-connected speaker that acts as a personal assistant, is, today, one of the top selling gadgets in the US.
The Indian connectionAmazon’s India development centre played a significant role in developing both the software and the hardware that goes into the device, said Greg Hart, Vice-President, Amazon Echo.
The device is sold in the US for $179.99. Amazon is working on multi-language compatibility to speed up the pace of launching Echo globally, including India, Hart who spearheads the Echo project, told Business Line . He did not give a time frame for launching the device in India.
Hart said third-party companies, several hundred of them, are now creating new capabilities through Alexa Skills Kit. One can ask Alexa for recipes, local events or check who’s polling strong on Twitter, he said.
Out of the 1,000 employees who worked globally to developed the product, Amazon’s Chennai centre, launched in 2005, played a key role, Hart said.
India centre was involved in building the speech and language solutions behind Echo, Alexa Skills Kit and Alexa Voice Services, said Manikandan Thangarathnam, Director - Software Development, Amazon Development Centre, India.
Echo is connected to the Cloud through Wi-Fi and interacts with a person through voice and answers to the nameAlexa. It responds to voice instructions from anywhere in the room; answers questions on any topic; reads audio books and news; and provides information on diverse topics including local traffic, weather, local businesses, sports scores and schedules. Being a multi-utility device. It can control connected household appliances, too.
“Amazon employees here collaborate with their colleagues globally to develop and deploy products. We are working on the latest technologies using skills around big data, mobility and Alexa,” Thangarathnam said.
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