julianocristian / aws_lambda_and_sns

For UIUC's CS@ILLINOIS SAIL 2018. This tutorial creates an Alexa skill that utilizes AWS SNS to deliver SMS messages through a Lambda function.

An Alexa skill that joins AWS Lambda and AWS SNS to message your friends

Welcome! This tutorial was designed for the attendees of the University of Illinois' CS@ILLINOIS SAIL, an event for high school students to explore various student-led classes at the University.
However, this tutorial is meant for anyone to use!

Who?

You - the person that activates the skill
Those you list as recipients - those who receive the end interaction of your skill

What?

We will be building an Alexa skill that sends your personalized messages to recipients of your choice via SMS.
This walkthrough uses the Alexa developer dashboard for the voice user interface design and AWS Lambda and AWS SNS to handle the recipient selection and message delivery function.

I named my skill, "Share Love," hence the "Share Love" in the picture.

Where?

AWS Lambda, AWS SNS, the Alexa Voice Service.

When?

Anytime you activate the skill [while connected to the internet and the corresponding AWS server is running].

Why?

I built an app that generates a positive/good vibes message that I can share but I didn't like how long the process took. I recently started building with Alexa and I thought it would be a much faster solution to my problem while being an opportunity to increase my Alexa skillset. For you, this can help provide insight into connecting AWS SNS with AWS Lambda and the Alexa Voice Service.

How?

* Sources for the images used can be found in the lecture slides.