FH Kufstein Newsroom Studienjahr 2019/20 Students at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol innovated the Kufstein public utility company’s Beecars
Die Studierendengruppe der FH Kufstein Tirol bei der Endpräsentation in den Räumlichkeiten der Stadtwerke Kufstein mit dem stellvertretenden Studiengangsleiter für Smart Products & Solutions, Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Schmiedinger (v.l.n.r).
FH Kufstein Tirol
The University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol student group at their final presentation at the premises of the Kufstein public utility company with the Vice Director of Studies for Smart Products & Solutions, Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Schmiedinger (from left to right).

Students at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol innovated the Kufstein public utility company’s Beecars

19.05.2020 | Practical projects
A practical project group from the Smart Products & Solutions study program developed a function for the Amazon Language Assistant as an example of what the students could do. It is now used to answer questions while driving with the Beecar.

The Kufstein public utility company has specialized in the area of e-carsharing with Beecars and commissioned the student group from the Smart Products & Solutions master study program to create a skill for the Beecar fleet to show what the students could do. In consultation with the contact persons at the public utility company, the content of the Beecar FAQ was defined and is currently available online. The practical project group modified the Amazon Language Assistant so that it can answer questions for the Beecar FAQ. In the future, user questions should be able to be answered by Alexa, the Amazon Language Assistant.

A practical project with a successful final result

During the project, an Alexa skill was created that accesses a database by a Lambda function, and the database shows all current questions and answers from the FAQs. The database serves as the basis for an expandable system to do things like being able to expand a chat box for access at some point in the future with new questions and answers.

A code generator was developed to guarantee scalability, and it is fed with a list of questions and answers. This automatically produces the skill code. This minimizes programming effort, and the work process for expanding, changing, or re-creating an Alexa skill is more efficient. Other expansion options were shown conceptually such as a connection with a service hotline if the answer is not stored in the database with a comparable question.

After the final presentation on February 28. 2020, a functional but unpublished skill, a complete database of Beecar FAQs, the code generator, and step-by-step instructions for further expanding the skill were submitted.

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