Inspiration
One of the biggest issues facing aging adults is the loss of independence. This is particularly apparent with those affected by Alzheimer’s disease. The focus of our hack was to give a person showing signs of Alzheimer’s the ability to exercise their memory and thinking by answering a series of questions prompted by Alexa.
What It Does
ReMemoir is an Alexa Skill that performs a simple series of quiz questions that require the user to think about past experiences and reply whether the experience described was something they did in their life. A simple yes or no will suffice as an answer and no answer is a wrong answer. The point of the exercise is to stimulate thinking.
How We Built It
We built ReMemoir using Amazon’s Web Service and Alexa’s Skill creator. This required knowledge of JavaScript and the creation of a Lambda Function.
Challenges We Ran Into
Learning to use the Amazon Web Service in conjunction with the Amazon Echo that we rented from MLH was a bit of a challenge. There was a learning curve involved in actually getting Alexa to respond to the proper prompts to use her learned skill.
Accomplishments That We're Proud Of
Getting a Minimally Viable Product up and running was a big moment for us. Once we were able to get basic functionality, it was easier for us to implement some of the more advanced features that we had hoped to include in our final product.
What We Learned
We learned a lot about the engineering process. Before settling on ReMemior, using Alexa, and the Amazon Echo we pivoted several times. These pivots included using Alexa as a reminder device for appointments and creating a chatbot for someone to talk to. It was difficult to make the decision to pivot, but we learned it was better to do so than work on a project that had flaws or already working examples from previous teams.
What's Next For ReMemoir
We would love to add more functionality onto ReMemior that would analyze weekly trends of responses. This could be used to monitor the progression of Alzheimer’s side effects in the user. Also, we would like to include a feature for siblings and parents to add their own question for Alexa to ask. As a long term goal, we would like to be able to take in the full responses the user says and record their answers over time. Amazon Echo’s privacy features do not allow for speech recording in this fashion so we think this would have to be done on separate hardware. The purpose for this speech recording feature would be to compile a background history of the user and allow future generations to learn about the user through personal stories after the user has passed away.
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