back to article Amazon ports Alexa voice assistant to Raspberry Pi

Amazon.com has released a Raspberry Pi version of its Alexa Voice Assistant, the company's voice-activated “companion” bot that resides in its Echo range of speakers and offers voice-driven home automation and shopping. Amazon's cylindrical Echo speakers make a virtue of simplicity: one just plugs them into power and Wi-Fi, …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    So Amazon wants to turn your Raspberry Pi...

    Into a Raspberry SPi...

  2. David Roberts

    Full setup not shown?

    I was intrigued by the picture and wasted some time chasing AYL speakers.

    The ones looking like the picture are audio cable speakers with no microphone.

    So presumably the USB bits include a Bluetooth dongle for a microphone. In which case why not go for one of the many bluetooth speaker/microphone combos?

    Just a picture to say "look - Pi with a speaker" to explain what audio is?

    Anyway, looks like fun.

  3. Sir Sham Cad

    Alexisiritana

    "Google's as-yet-free-of-anthropomorphism"

    Please, please keep it this way. Voice recognition assitant software is just that. handy software. It doesn't need a name/face/emotional responses just search stuff and run recognised commands.

    "Remind me it's Mum's Birthday next Friday"

    "Do it yourself you lazy bastard I'm feeling Sensitive (version 2)"

    Fuck all the off with that shit, seriously (Siri-ously?)

    1. Swarthy

      Re: Alexisiritana

      But they need to include Genuine People Personalities; how else will we know who's to be first against the wall when the revolution comes?

    2. To Mars in Man Bras!
      Gimp

      Re: Alexisiritana

      *"Google's as-yet-free-of-anthropomorphism"*

      Google's does have a name. It's just that it's called er... "Google", in that you have to activate it by saying "OK Google..."

      Until such times as one of these virtual assistants is released which allows me to define how I address it, I'm not playing. "OK Google" sounds dorky and all the other ones have the kind of names that a twelve year old would come up when bragging about his supposedly sexy, but sadly imaginary, girlfriend.

  4. TheProf

    Button

    You need to press a virtual button to get it to listen to you with this Pi version. So factor in a monitor too.

    Why haven't Amazon released a smart-phone version? After all, almost every phone in use is more powerful than the Pi and they're all ready with a speaker and microphone.

    1. Alan Brookland

      Re: Button

      I haven't looked in detail at them but the github build has companionApp samples directories for Android and iOS as well as the Pi java version, so could be that they have.

      Button is annoying but that is only sample code. No reason you can't trigger it with something else connected to the Pi with a bit of development.

    2. SgtFalstaff

      Re: Button

      "Why haven't Amazon released a smart-phone version?"

      Uhm-

      http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-com-Amazon-Alexa/dp/B00P03D4D2

      https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.dee.app

      https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-alexa/id944011620

      1. David Beck

        Why haven't Amazon released a smart-phone version?

        Uhm-

        http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-com-Amazon-Alexa/dp/B00P03D4D2

        https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.dee.app

        https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-alexa/id944011620

        USA only

  5. Efros

    Something very

    Creepy about the whole Alexa/Echo thing. I remain to be convinced of any advantage to the user that is not outweighed by the advantage to the supplier... but they still want to charge you an eye watering price for the Echo, and even more disturbing is that people, a lot of people judging by the reviews on Amazon, are willing to buy them.

  6. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Amazon Echo

    Put one in every room at every funny farm there is and see what happens...

    1. Synonymous Howard

      Re: Amazon Echo

      Just give it a feed from BBC Parliament

  7. Brian Miller

    Open source Sirius Cybernetics

    "I'm sorry, I'm too depressed to answer you now. I've a terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side..."

    Why bother with any of these when we can have truly "fun" digital assistants at our beck and call? Just throw on some voice recognition, and pipe through a modified version of Eliza.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not a technology

    Im particularly interested in right now.

    Though it is incredible that voice recognition is accurate enough now that it exceeds the level of understanding of a common garden variety pikey.

    That said, I'd love a Danny Dyer cockney sound pack for something like this. Especially if it had a slightly insolent tone.

    You: Oi Dyer!

    "You fackin whut? What did you fackin say?"

    "Dont forget its ya mams facking birfday you fackin toilet"

    You: book tickets for chitty chitty bang bang.

    "Oive booked yer facking chitty baing baing tickets nah fack off"

    You: Oi Dyer, Check IMDB for Bridget Jones rating"

    "Schtweamin Under Seige, watch a pwoppa fackin movie you fackin cant"

    If he really is concerned about cockneys dy(er?)ing out he needs to get something like this done.

  9. Nya

    Worth a fiddle though

    Think I'll give this a tinker with. Shame it won't run on the zero, but well worth a fiddle with if you can train it to only listen to a couple of commands and respond with an answer.

    1. Red Bren
      Windows

      Re: Worth a fiddle though

      "Yes!"

      "No!"

      "That would be an ecumenical matter!"

      No other answers required.

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