Peterborough youngster wins high praise for his Amazon 'Alexa skill' that could help save lives

An enterprising Peterborough youngster has won national praise for creating a new ‘Alexa Skill’ that could help save lives.​

Roland Christopher, a pupil at The King’s School, in Park Road, devised the Emergency Response Guide when he took part in Amazon’s national artificial intelligence coding competition to come up with a new skill for the internet giant’s Alexa cloud-based voice service.

The Guide, which is based on the knowledge Roland gained as a St John Ambulance cadet, takes users through the initial stages of treating an unresponsive casualty.

It features tools that informs Alexa that someone is not breathing or responding and guides the user to check responsiveness and breathing, leading them to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and can provide a location for an automated external defibrillator.

Roland was named as a runner-up in the 13 to14 age group of Amazon’s Alexa Young Innovator Challenge.

Competition entries were picked by a judging panel that included former Countdown presenter Carol Vorderman, computing prodigy Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, YouTuber and computer science graduate Tobi Brown, and Lauren Kisser, Amazon Technology Director and UK ambassador for Amazon Future Engineer.

Roland was presented with a £500 Amazon voucher for his school, and a £250 Amazon voucher for himself.

Afterwards, he said: “Taking part allowed me to improve my programming skills and gave me a better understanding of the importance of First Aid and emergency response.

"I hope this highlights the importance of early intervention in emergencies.”

Amazon’s Lauren Kisser said: “We were blown away by the innovation and imaginative thinking that was evident in many of the entries we received for the challenge.”

Afterwards, he said: “Taking part allowed me to improve my programming skills and gave me a better understanding of the importance of First Aid and emergency response.

"I hope this highlights the importance of early intervention in emergencies.”