Ask HN: Can a Voice Chatbot help my adult autistic brother with everyday tasks?

Have you tried using lower-tech devices to help remind him? A paper agenda, Google Calendar, and alarm clocks/wristwatches are all techniques that other autistic people have used with varying levels of success.

If you want to test whether the Echo reminder would help, you should try a lower-fidelity prototype -- record your mother saying the reminder with a tape recorder or a Sound Recorder app on a computer, and then play it back at the appropriate time and see how he responds. (If it was me, I'd find it rather insulting and might respond angrily, but I wouldn't assume your brother acts the same way.)

Does your brother want to live independently of your mother? If your mother is the only social contact that your brother has during the whole day, then replacing her with an Echo might make him even more isolated, right?

I'd think mum being the person telling him to do stuff, is what's working. Rather than just the fact that it's a voiced command? Does he listen to you too?

Everyone is different, and you never know what is going to work.

First lets talk about what is truly positive in what your doing, you have a goal: "lessen the load for my mother".

The reality is that your mom isn't going to be there forever, and giving your brother a life that is his own matters.

That opens up my next questions:

Do the things your proposing solve the underlying issues or do they simply shift the burden? Do you want to have to maintain these API's forever? What happens if amazon stops offering alexa? What happens if your brother transitions into an environment where he can not take advantage of the technologies your building? What happens if the power goes out for a few days (it can happen)?

I would suggest that you spend your efforts finding a good occupational therapist first. I suspect that this is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack and in the short term would make a lot of other solutions seem more practical. Your looking for a person who is good at what they do and gets along with your brother, depending on where you live this could be HARD.

It might take a long time to get your brother to the next level when it comes to his functioning. It might cost you quite a bit out of pocket in the (relative) near term. However if your brother lives to be 50 or older these costs will turn out to be rather small in the long run. Your freeing your mother, and eventually yourself, from burdens (I don't mean that in a callous way but a loving one) and giving your brother more independence and flexibility.

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With all of that out there, I don't want to dissuade you from building any of the things you suggest. People with special needs need every advantage they can get, hell some of the things your suggesting would be of benefit to regular folks as well. A "Weight sensor API for bed" not only helps your brother but every parent with a lazy teenager!

Realize that there are probably others who want, need or are willing to support you in building these these tools for people with special needs and/or disabilities. If your going to be open (source not minded) then you might be surprised at how much support you get. Prosthetics 3d printing is probably the most prominent and impactful example I can think of that uses this model, and there is plenty of room and support for others.

As a final bit of encouragement, you need to go dig in at hackaday.com one of their 2017 prizes is for assistive technology!

https://hackaday.io/prize/details