Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Amazon Alexa'

With the rapid development of computers and technology, virtual assistants (VA) are becoming more and more common and intelligent. However, virtual assistants, such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Google Assistant, do not currently have any physical functions. As an important part of the internet of things (IoT), the field of robotics has become a new trend in the usage of VA. In this project, a mobile robot, Fetch, is connected with the Amazon Echo Dot through the Amazon web service (AWS) and a local robot operation system (ROS) bridge server. We demonstrated that the robot could be controlled by voice commands through an Amazon Alexa. Given certain commands, Fetch was able to move in a desired direction as well as track and follow a target object. The follow model was also learned by Neural Network training, which allows for the target position to be predicted in future maps.
Master of Science
Nowadays, virtual personalized assistants (VPAs) exist everywhere around us. For example, Siri or android VPAs exist on every smartphone. More and more people are getting household Virtual Assistants, such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft's Cortana. If the virtual assistants can connect with objects which have physical functions like an actual robot, they will be able to provide better services and more functions for humans. In this project, a mobile robot, Fetch, is connected with the Echo dot from Amazon. This connection allows us to control the robot by voice command. You can ask the robot to move in a given direction or track and follow a certain object. In order to let the robot learn how to predict the position of the target when the target is lost, a map is built as an influence factor. Since a designed algorithm of target position prediction is difficult to implement, we opted to use a machine learning method instead. Therefore, a machine learning algorithm was tested on the following model.

Voice Personal Assistant (VPA) is a software agent, which can interpret the user's voice commands and respond with appropriate information or action. The users can operate the VPA by voice to complete multiple tasks, such as read the message, order coffee, send an email, check the news, and so on. Although this new technique brings in interesting and useful features, they also pose new privacy and security risks. The current researches have focused on proof-of-concept attacks by pointing out the potential ways of launching the attacks, e.g., craft hidden voice commands to trigger malicious actions without noticing the user, fool the VPA to invoke the wrong applications. However, lacking a comprehensive understanding of the functionality of the skills and its commands prevents us from analyzing the potential threats of these attacks systematically. In this project, we developed convolutional neural networks with active learning and keyword-based approach to investigate the commands according to their capability (information retrieval or action injection) and sensitivity (sensitive or nonsensitive). Through these two levels of analysis, we will provide a complete view of VPA skills, and their susceptibility to the existing attacks.
M.S.
Voice Personal Assistant (VPA) is a software agent, which can interpret the users' voice commands and respond with appropriate information or action. The current popular VPAs are Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Siri and Microsoft Cortana. The developers can build and publish third-party applications, called skills in Amazon Alex and actions in Google Homes on the VPA server. The users simply "talk" to the VPA devices to complete different tasks, like read the message, order coffee, send an email, check the news, and so on. Although this new technique brings in interesting and useful features, they also pose new potential security threats. Recent researches revealed that the vulnerabilities exist in the VPA ecosystems. The users can incorrectly invoke the malicious skill whose name has similar pronunciations to the user-intended skill. The inaudible voice triggers the unintended actions without noticing users. All the current researches focused on the potential ways of launching the attacks. The lack of a comprehensive understanding of the functionality of the skills and its commands prevents us from analyzing the potential consequences of these attacks systematically. In this project, we carried out an extensive analysis of third-party applications from Amazon Alexa and Google Home to characterize the attack surfaces. First, we developed a convolutional neural network with active learning framework to categorize the commands according to their capability, whether they are information retrieval or action injection commands. Second, we employed the keyword-based approach to classifying the commands into sensitive and nonsensitive classes. Through these two levels of analysis, we will provide a complete view of VPA skills' functionality, and their susceptibility to the existing attacks.

L’Internet of Things (IoT) sta rapidamente acquistando una grande importanza e utilità nella vita di tutti i giorni. L’idea di base dell’IoT è la presenza pervasiva, intorno a noi, di oggetti in grado di interagire e di cooperare tra loro per eseguire una determinata funzione. Con il proliferare di nuove applicazioni e tecnologie in tale ambito, si introducono anche innovativi modi di collaborare e interagire, sia dal punto di vista degli oggetti che dell’uomo. Essendo la voce la maniera naturale dell’uomo di esprimersi, l’integrazione del controllo vocale nei sistemi IoT offre un metodo versatile ed intuitivo in termini di interazione, comunicazione e controllo dei dispositivi. Lo scopo di questa tesi è la realizzazione di SensorSpeak, un sistema di monitoraggio e controllo dei dispositivi IoT mediante l’utilizzo di comandi vocali. Attraverso la semplice interazione vocale con Amazon Alexa, l’utente è in grado di monitorare e controllare i dispositivi associati al proprio cloud. L’approccio utilizzato nell’implementazione del sistema estende il suo utilizzo ad un’enorme varietà di dispositivi e la sua integrazione in diversi scenari, come smart home o reti di sensori. Inoltre, data l’importanza della questione energetica in contesti del genere, è stato testato un algoritmo di predizione del tempo di carica rimanente delle batterie che alimentano i device. SensorSpeak è stato installato e testato in una rete 6LoWPAN montata presso il centro di ricerca ARCES di Bologna per il monitoraggio dei sensori disposti all’interno della struttura.

During these last recent years cloud computing and cloud services have started to gain traction, which has been most notable among companies. Amazon have proven to be one of the powerhouses on providing scalable and flexible cloud computing services. However, cloud computing is still a relatively new area. From an outsider’s point of view, the overwhelming information and available services might prove to be difficult to familiarize with. The aim of this thesis is to explore how Amazon Web Services can be applied during software development and observing how difficult it might be to use these services. Three test applications that utilized different Amazon Web Services were implemented to get an insight into how Amazon Web Services can be applied from a cloud computing beginner’s point of view. These applications were developed in an iterative manner, where a case study was performed on each application. At the start of each new iteration a literature study was conducted, where sources were reviewed to see if it provided essential information. In total, nine different Amazon Web Services were used to implement and test the three respective test applications. Results of the case study were interpreted and evaluated with regards to the learnability and appliance of Amazon Web Services. Issues that were identified during the development process showed that Amazon Web Services were not userfriendly for users that have little to no experience with cloud computing services. Further research on other Amazon Web Services, such as Elastic Cloud Computing, as well as other cloud computing platforms like Google or IBM, may provide a deeper and more accurate insight on the appliances of cloud computing.
Under dem senaste åren så har molntjänster blivit ett allt mer populärt område, speciellt inom företag. Ett av dem största utgivare inom molntjänst branschen är Amazon som erbjuder skalbara och flexibla molntjänster. Molntjänster är dock ett relativt nytt område, vilket innebär att någon som inte är insatt i ämnet kan finna all tillgänglig information överväldigande och svår att bekanta sig med. Målet med det här tesen är att utforska olika Amazon Web Service som kan användas inom mjukvaruutveckling och observera problem som kan uppstå med dessa tjänster. Tre testapplikationer som använde sig av Amazon Web Services var skapade för att få en fördjupad kunskap om hur dessa tjänster fungerar och vad för möjligheter de har. Dessa applikationer utvecklades iterativt och en fallstudie utfördes för varje applikation. I början av varje ny iteration genomfördes en litteraturstudie, där källorna var kritiskt granskade för att se ifall dem innehöll väsentlig information för tesen. Sammanlagt användes nio olika Amazon Web Services för att implementera och testa de tre olika testapplikationerna. Resultaten från fallstudien tolkades och utvärderades med avseende på Amazon Web Services lärbarhet och tillämpningsbarhet. Problem som samlades ihop under utvecklingsprocessen visade att Amazons Web Services inte var särskilt användarvänligt för utvecklare med liten eller ingen erfarenhet inom Amazon Web Services. Ytterligare forskning inom andra Amazon Web Services som Elastic Cloud Computing och forskning som undersöker andra molntjänst plattformar som Google Cloud, skulle kunna bidra med en djupare förståelse och mer exakt inblick kring tillämpning av molntjänster.

There is an ever-growing and increasing amount of technology options that use speech recognition software. Currently, the market includes smartphones, computers, and individual smart home personal assistants that allow for hands-free access to this technology. Research studies have explored the utility of these assistive devices for the completion of activities of daily living; however, there is limited research looking at the accuracy of voice recognition software within smart home personal assistants in populations with disordered speech. In persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), symptoms include changes to motor functions, speech in particular, and it is unknown how some of these devices may respond to their disordered speech. The present study aimed to examine the accuracy of the Amazon Echo to respond appropriately to commands given by dysarthric patients with ALS. Participants were asked to read a variety of commands to an Amazon Echo. The sentences and responses by the Amazon Echo were audio-recorded for transcription and intelligibility ratings, which were then analyzed to look for relationships between intelligibility, auditory-perceptual features of speech, and sentence type. Results revealed there was no significant relationship between command intelligibility and accuracy of response by the Amazon Echo, nor was there a significant relationship between any of the auditory-perceptual ratings and accuracy of response. There was, however, a significant and positive association between conversational intelligibility and accuracy of responses by the Amazon Echo. This study provides support for use of hands-free assistive technology in patients with ALS to aid in the maintenance of quality of life and activities of daily living.

Negli ultimi anni si è assistita ad un'evoluzione sul modo in cui l'uomo interagisce con la macchina. Da interazioni di tipo meccanico facenti uso di tastiera e mouse si è prima passati all'utilizzo di schermi sensibili al tatto e più recentemente alla possibilità di poter comunicare oralmente con dispositivi elettronici. In questo lavoro si considerano le interfacce conversazionali con particolare riferimento al modo in cui esse potrebbero migliorare la vita di persone affette da disabilità. Si inizia analizzando in primis le tecnologie esistenti che consentono di realizzare interfacce conversazionali, per poi focalizzarsi su una delle più diffuse: Amazon Alexa. Viene in seguito realizzato un prototipo di assistente virtuale da posizionare all'ingresso del Campus Universitario di Cesena la cui funzione primaria è assistere gli utenti, fungendo da punto informazioni. Lo scopo del prototipo è quello di esplorare se questi nuovi modi di interazione uomo-macchina siano idonei per migliorare l'esperienza quotidiana di utenti con e senza disabilità. A tal fine, nel prototipo si sono integrate funzionalità di ricerca informazioni circa la struttura fisica del luogo, gli eventi in esso disponibili e i servizi erogati dalla struttura. Il lavoro discute le fasi di raccolta dei requisiti, progettazione dell'architettura, design di dettaglio e affronta anche aspetti implementativi. A seguito della realizzazione pratica del prototipo, il suo funzionamento è stato sottoposto a test, tramite utilizzo ed interviste ad utenti. I test hanno dato un esito generalmente positivo ed hanno evidenziato alcune limitazioni correnti sia del prototipo che della piattaforma che ne consente il funzionamento. Il lavoro si conclude quindi con una discussione circa i possibili sviluppi futuri da apportare al prototipo e, più in generale, sulle prospettive future degli assistenti virtuali.

The aim of this project is to use NI myRIO and LabVIEW for voice controlled home automation. The NI myRIO is an embedded device which has a Xilinx FPGA and a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9processor as well as analog input/output and digital input/output, and is programmed with theLabVIEW, a graphical programming language. The voice control is implemented in two differentsystems. The first system is based on an Amazon Echo Dot for voice recognition, which is acommercial smart speaker developed by Amazon Lab126. The Echo Dot devices are connectedvia the Internet to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service known as Alexa(developed by Amazon), which is capable of voice interaction, music playback, and controllingsmart devices for home automation. This system in the present thesis project is more focusingon myRIO used for the wireless control of smart home devices, where smart lamps, sensors,speakers and a LCD-display was implemented. The other system is more focusing on myRIO for speech recognition and was built on myRIOwith a microphone connected. The speech recognition was implemented using mel frequencycepstral coefficients and dynamic time warping. A few commands could be recognized, includinga wake word ”Bosse” as well as other four commands for controlling the colors of a smart lamp. The thesis project is shown to be successful, having demonstrated that the implementation ofhome automation using the NI myRIO with two voice-controlled systems can correctly controlhome devices such as smart lamps, sensors, speakers and a LCD-display.

Att välja vilken eller vilka röststyrningstjänster man som företag vill stödja kan i dagens läge vara ett svårt val att göra. Det kan även var så att man inte har resurser att göra två olika implementationer. I den här undersökningen tittar vi på om det finns ett bra sätt att göra en implementation som kan hantera fler än en röststyrningstjänst. Tjänsterna vi har fokuserat på i undersökningen är Amazon Alexa och Google Assistant.

Lo scopo di questo lavoro di tesi è quello di proporre un nuovo ed innovativo sistema di smart retail. In particolare, questo sistema, cerca di sostituirsi alla figura del commesso, migliorando l’esperienza offerta da quest’ultimo, e lo fa analizzando le caratteristiche e le espressioni facciali dei clienti. Caratteristiche come l’età, il sesso, gli stati d’animo, la direzione della testa, della vista e la posizione del cliente. Grazie a una telecamera montata su un raspberry pi, viene fatto la profilazione degli utenti che si trovano davanti la telecamera, ogni secondo. Utilizzando il riconoscimento facciale ed emotivo, si individua l’età, il sesso e anche le preferenze del cliente analizzando i suoi stati d’animo. Abbiamo creato un applicazione android, ad hoc, che utilizza almeno 3 beacon bluetooth low energy per individuare la posizione indoor del cliente, grazie alla tecnica della trilaterazione, e calcola la percentuale di acquisto del cliente sugli oggetti che quest’ultimo osserva. E stato utilizzato l’algoritmo di classificazione Naive Bayes per calcolare la percentuale di acquisto del cliente. Il sistema tiene conto anche delle caratteristiche dei clienti che hanno acquistato in passato, e propone delle eventuali offerte o sconti, sull’articolo interessato, qualora queste dovessero convincere il cliente ad acquistare l’articolo. Il sistema proposto migliora le esperienze di shopping dei consumatori ma porta anche numerosi vantaggi ai rivenditori poichè offre una migliore gestione aziendale, riduce i cosi del rivenditore e, infine, porta una maggiore redditività aziendale. Questo sistema è stato pensato per qualsiasi tipo di attività commerciale, sia virtuale che fisica.

Robot assisted therapy is becoming increasingly popular. Research has proven it can be of benefit to persons dealing with a variety of disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and it can also provide a source of emotional support e.g. to persons living in seniors’ residences. The advancement in technology and a decrease in cost of products related to consumer electronics, computing and communication has enabled the development of more advanced social robots at a lower cost. This brings us closer to developing such tools at a price that makes them affordable to lower income individuals and families. Currently, in several cases, intensive treatment for patients with certain disorders (to the level of becoming effective) is practically not possible through the public health system due to resource limitations and a large existing backlog. Pursuing treatment through the private sector is expensive and unattainable for those with a lower income, placing them at a disadvantage. Design and effective integration of technology, such as using social robots in treatment, reduces the cost considerably, potentially making it financially accessible to lower income individuals and families in need. The Objective of the research reported in this manuscript is to design and implement a social robot that meets the low-cost criteria, while also containing the required functions to support children with ASD. The design considered contains knowledge acquired in the past through research involving the use of various types of technology for the treatment of mental and/or emotional disabilities.

E-commerce has rapidly grown for the past 20 years and while some traditional retailers could not survive the fierce competition, others were able to adapt and opened their own online stores. For the past decade, this has been the prevailing trend in the retail environment. In recent years, however, we have been witnessing to the inverse, retailers going from clicks to bricks. Amazon is known for having completed a high number of M&A transactions since its inception. The last one, in 2017, was the acquisition of Whole Foods Market and it shook the entire retail industry, as fears regarding a possible entrance by the e-commerce leader in the brick-and-mortar space spread. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse Amazon’s acquisition of Ulta, the leading U.S. beauty specialty retailer, as part of the company’s quest for an omnichannel presence. The in-store experience in the $445Bn beauty industry is of major importance and Ulta’s 1070 stores in the U.S. and 28 years of experience in the field stand as valuable opportunities for Amazon. The recommended bid price is $331,2 per share, which includes a 30% premium over the market price at the 21st May 2018. This value is justified by net synergies of $4.123Mm and a $373Mm value of control. The transaction should be a cash deal carried as a friendly takeover and has the potential of creating $863.1Mm for Amazon’s shareholders and an accretion of 12,4% in the first year’s EPS.
Com a crescente concorrência imposta pelo crescimento do comércio eletrónico nos últimos 20 anos, muitos retalhistas tradicionais fecharam as suas lojas e, apenas aqueles que se adaptaram, abrindo também, eles próprios, as suas lojas online, conseguiram sobreviver. Mais recentemente, temos vindo a assistir a uma inversão desta tendência: empresas a saírem do espaço online para o espaço físico. A Amazon já completou várias fusões e aquisições ao longo da sua existência, tendo a última sido a aquisição da Whole Foods Market em 2017. Esta aquisição levantou receios relativamente à possível entrada do gigante do comércio eletrónico no segmento do retalho tradicional. Esta dissertação propõe a aquisição da Ulta pela Amazon, como forma de alcançar uma estratégica omnicanal. A indústria da beleza tem um caráter bastante experimental, por isso, a aquisição de uma empresa com 28 anos de experiência parece ser o caminho indicado para reforçar a sua posição neste mercado. A oferta de aquisição pública amigável à Ulta, com um prémio de 30% relativamente ao preço a 21 de maio de 2018, deverá assumir o valor de 331,2 dólares por ação, e ser pago na totalidade recorrendo a dinheiro. Espera-se que a aquisição origine sinergias no valor líquido de 4.123 milhões de dólares e valor acrescido relacionado com controlo de 373 milhões de dólares. Esta transação deverá criar valor para os acionistas da Amazon na ordem dos 863.1 milhões de dólares e aumentar o lucro por ação em 12,4% no primeiro ano após a aquisição.

Since this decade, voice search technology is spreading in today’s households. Experts predict that smart speaker manufacturers will sell approximately 94 million devices in 2019 accumulating the installed base to 207.9 million by the end of the year. In 2014, Amazon introduced the first cloud-enabled wireless speaker embedded with a conversational user interface, Alexa, and is dominating the market ever since. Plenty of opportunities to exploit this hype arise for companies offering voice search devices, for third-party suppliers selling compatible technologies and for companies aiming to promote their products through these search systems. By applying the qualitative research method “netnography”, this research analysed virtual conversations in Facebook online communities with the purpose of extracting insights about consumer attitudes towards voice search, Alexa, member engagement, motivations and barriers to future adoption. Firstly, negative media coverage regarding privacy concern issues has an impact on how Alexa is perceived online and also increases the controversial discussion in the communities. Additionally, findings are aligned with previous research regarding users personifying with the device. Thus, valuable insights are generated for an effective communication strategy including a successful collaboration with third-party suppliers and integration into smart-homes. Furthermore, both barriers for adoption and reasons for frustration were identified and recommendations were extracted to enhance the spreading of voice search technologies.
Desde esta década, a tecnologia de pesquisa por voz está a ser disseminada nas actuais habitações. Os especialistas prevêem que os fabricantes de smart speakers venderão aproximadamente 94 milhões de dispositivos em 2019, acumulando a base instalada para 207,9 milhões até ao final do ano. Em 2014, a Amazon introduziu o primeiro cloud enabled smart speaker sem fios com uma interface de conversação, a Alexa. Estão a surgir muitas oportunidades para explorar esta adesão a empresas que disponibilizam smart speakers, para fornecedores externos que oferecem tecnologias e aplicativos compatíveis ou também empresas que procuram promover os seus produtos por meio dos sistemas de pesquisa. Ao aplicar o método de pesquisa qualitativa “netnografia”, este estudo analisou as conversas virtuais nas comunidades on-line do Facebook com o propósito de extrair observações sobre as atitudes do consumidor em relação à pesquisa por voz, à Alexa, ao envolvimento dos membros, as motivações e barreiras para a adoção futura. Em primeiro lugar, a cobertura negativa dos media sobre as preocupações com a privacidade tem impacto sobre como a Alexa é percecionada on-line. Adicionalmente, os resultados estão alinhados com pesquisas anteriores sobre usuários personificando com o dispositivo. Portanto, são geradas observações valiosas para uma estratégia de comunicação efetiva incluindo a colaboração bem--sucedida com fornecedores externos e integração em casas inteligentes.

In order to better understand the phenomenon of genderization of consumer technologies, such as digital voice assistants (DVAs), present in the market today, this dissertation examines the possible sociocultural intersections between gender and technology present in the imaginary of science fiction cinema. To do so, a Foucauldian discourse analysis was conducted on ten feature films in this artistic genre, which is very dear to feminism, especially as of its third wave, drawing an intertextual parallel with the responses programmed into some of the most popular DVAs available today, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. This dissertation challenges the argument that the genderization of technology is a phenomenon as recent as these new technologies and that it can be explained only from a user experience point of view. With this objetive in mind, we trace a genealogy of Alexa based on the ideas proposed by Michel Foucault, in an attempt to expose the power games behind these gender constructions inside and outside of cinema. In this sense, we identified and examined three main categories of discourse analysis that are present and repeated not only in the filmic sample, but also in the DVAs used daily by millions of consumers around the world. The study points to the need to overcome gender barriers in not only technical, but also sociocultural, access to technologies in general.
Com o objetivo de melhor compreender o fenômeno de genderização de tecnologias de consumo presentes hoje no mercado, como as digital voice assistants (DVAs), esta dissertação examina as possíveis interseções socioculturais entre gênero e tecnologia presentes no imaginário do cinema de ficção científica. Para isso, foi realizada uma análise de discurso foucauldiana em dez filmes de longa metragem deste gênero artístico, que é muito caro ao feminismo especialmente a partir da sua terceira onda, estabelecendo um paralelo intertextual a partir das respostas programadas em algumas das mais populares DVAs disponíveis atualmente, como Alexa, da Amazon, e Siri, da Apple. Esta dissertação desafia o argumento de que a genderização da tecnologia é um fenômeno tão recente quanto essas novas tecnologias e que pode ser explicado apenas do ponto de vista da experiência do usuário. Para este efeito, traça-se uma genealogia da Alexa com base nas ideias propostas por Michel Foucault, expondo os jogos de poder por detrás dessas construções de gênero dentro e fora do cinema. Nesse sentido, foram identificadas e examinadas três categorias principais de análise de discurso que estão presentes e se repetem não apenas na amostra fílmica, mas também nas DVAs utilizadas diariamente por milhões de consumidores ao redor do mundo. O estudo aponta para a necessidade de superação das barreiras de gênero no acesso não apenas técnico, mas também sociocultural, às tecnologias de forma geral.