Quite a cliche starting, but hold on — you will love the ending. First, let's talk about some basic. What is Google Assistant? How it is very useful? How can I get my hand dirty in this tech?

What is Google Assistant?

It is a virtual assistant something like “Jarvis” but not even close to it, why shall it be although it’s is unique in itself. You can make an app on it, customize in many different ways. It has several options to get you started and get your hand’s on it like-

For beginners, they can try default templates wherein you can fillup the excel sheet and add multiple questions. Then you get an option for Dialogflow wherein you will get the complete backend capabilities and customizability over your Action on Google completely by embedding several different APIs and javascript codes. Then comes the main part Google Assistant SDK option which can be very hectic sometimes but worth the hard work in the end.

Understand how Actions work

Actions on Google supports a JSON based protocol between the Assistant and your fulfillment. To participate in conversations with Actions on Google, your Action implements a fulfillment webhook that can respond to HTTP requests from Actions on Google.

Figure 1: Diagram shows the interaction between various sub-systems that participate in a voice conversation with the Google Assistant. The part shaded in orange is the Action fulfillment webhook hosted on the Google Cloud Platform.

It also shows a sample interaction between the end-user, the Assistant, Dialogflow, and an Action fulfillment. To summarize, the Assistant converts the voice input from the user to text. Next, the system must understand what was said. Dialogflow uses machine learning to accurately map the text to the intent of the user and extract entities (such as places, things, date/time, etc). Dialogflow invokes the Action fulfillment webhook with a JSON payload that contains all the information is extracted from the text. The Action fulfillment (highlighted in orange in the figure) handles the JSON request and implements the logic to respond back to the Assistant (or Dialogflow). The Assistant on the device converts the response to voice and display (on-screen devices).

How is it very useful?

It is useful in a wide range of applications in today’s era. Let's suppose you are sitting ideally at your place and wondering what to do(we all have that situation one or the other day)a good app on Assistant which will come in rescue and entertain you or you can also ask to gain a little general knowledge. It not only limited to good conversational skills but also it can access your physical device using SDK’s, it will only take a little hard work from your end to design it well(control your magic lights, wash machine, fan, etc…). Google has also provided some of its sample kickstarts to get you going. Google Assistant can also give you answer’s just by saying it.

Isn’t that amazing. below are a few samples I have tried.

LOL :)

Totally loving it.

How can I get my hand’s on it?

Go to Action on Google navigate to “GO TO ACTIONS CONSOLE” then log in with you desired id. Click on New Project, give it a catchy name (you will get an option inside to keep you action invocation name) then select the type of action you are building from the below category

After you have completed all the task mention in your actions tag list, you will reach the page you can see in the image below. Now you can edit the information for your app. You will reach a point while filling out the details wherein you have to fill the link to your privacy policy.

At this point be careful — you don’t want to mess with the Privacy of your user since it is the most important issue. If at this moment you want help with your privacy policy, then click “LEARN MORE” in the blue bar.

When you click on it you will get a Google sheet, and all the information about the privacy policy will be given to you in that sheet. You have to carefully follow the steps given in that sheet.

When you are done with all the details of your app, then click on the “Save” at the bottom right corner of your page.

Now navigate to “Test Draft” to test your app. When you are done with your final testing, then click on “Submit Draft for Review.”

And you are done.

Volla you are good to go with you first Action on Google Assistant.

Congratulation, pat your self and a big applaud for your achievement. Now as you have done a good thing, you deserve a prize for it and we all know google warm-heartedly welcomes all the developer on board for a voyage and celebrates your accomplishments.

Perks and Benefits

Starting with a $200 monthly Google Cloud credit for next one year and an Assistant t-shirt.

the perks and opportunities available to you will grow as you hit milestone after milestone. You can get a chance to hold a Google Home for yourself.

So this was all for the Google Assistant app. If you are still facing any problems with it, then make sure you contact me. In the next article, we will see how Dialogflow can help you make better and proficient apps. Feel free to tell me your views about this article, and if you think it was helpful for you, then please make sure to clap! Also, make sure to check out my Google Assistant Apps too: 1. Practice Python 2.Doctor Stone 3.Sport Buzz.

Thank You :)

Any feedback or constructive criticism is welcomed. You can either find me on Twitter or Linkedin.