The Rutgers University Voice Assistant is an Alexa Skill designed to help students quickly access campus-related information through natural voice interaction. Built on the Amazon Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) and integrated with AWS services, it enables students to check events, food menus, shuttle schedules, academic deadlines, and more — all hands-free.
📢 Now available on the Alexa Skills Store under the name "Rutgers University Assistant"
Author: Sreya Kambhatla
- Voice Commands for Campus Info: Get details on courses, events, professors, deadlines, shuttle services, and food menus.
- Persistent Data Tracking: Stores frequently asked questions and usage metrics in DynamoDB for continuous improvement.
- Custom Intents: Six custom intents for specific campus-related queries.
- AWS Integration: Uses IAM Roles for secure access, CloudWatch for logs, and DynamoDB for persistent storage.
- Secure Beta Release: Passed Amazon’s Alexa certification review before public listing.
Core Technologies:
- Alexa Skills Kit (ASK)
- AWS Lambda (Python 3.6)
- DynamoDB – persistent attributes storage
- CloudWatch – monitoring and debugging
- IAM Roles – secure access control
High-Level Flow:
- User invokes the skill:
"Alexa, open Rutgers University Assistant". - Alexa routes the request to AWS Lambda.
- Lambda executes the corresponding intent handler and optionally queries/stores data in DynamoDB.
- Alexa responds with the requested information.
- EventsInfoIntent – “What events are happening today?”
- FoodInfoIntent – “What’s for lunch at the Gourmet Kitchen?”
- UniversityInfoIntent – “When is the final exam period?”
- StudentInfoIntent – “What assignments are due this week?”
- TeacherInfoIntent – “Who is teaching this course?”
- ShuttleInfoIntent – “When is the next shuttle?”
- Certification Approved: Passed Amazon’s Alexa security guidelines.
- IAM Roles: Fine-grained access control for AWS resources.
- University Access Control: Designed to integrate with student authentication in future versions.
- Connect to Rutgers’ live student database for real-time academic info.
- Expand to include management/parental access features.
- Add spending tracking and academic performance analytics.
- Release companion mobile app.
- Integrate with Amazon Echo devices for on-campus deployment.
- Sreya Kambhatla – Alexa Skill Development, AWS Integration
- Nitya Ramachandran – Alexa Skill Development, AWS Integration, Documentation
Disclaimer: This project was created for academic purposes. The simulated student data and campus details are placeholders for demonstration and beta testing.