Google Releases DIY Open Source Raspberry Pi Voice Kit Hardware (betanews.com)

BrianFagioli writes: Google has decided to take artificial intelligence to the maker community with a new initiative called AIY. This initiative will introduce open source AI projects to the public that makers can leverage in a simple way. Today, Google announces the first-ever AIY project. Called "Voice Kit," it is designed to work with a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B to create a voice-based virtual assistant. Billy Rutledge, Director of AIY Projects for Google, explains, "The first open source reference project is the Voice Kit: instructions to build a Voice User Interface (VUI) that can use cloud services (like the new Google Assistant SDK or Cloud Speech API) or run completely on-device. This project extends the functionality of the most popular single board computer used for digital making -- the Raspberry Pi. The included Voice Hardware Accessory on Top (HAT) contains hardware for audio capture and playback: easy-to-use connectors for the dual mic daughter board and speaker, GPIO pins to connect low-voltage components like micro-servos and sensors, and an optional barrel connector for dedicated power supply. It was designed and tested with the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B."

Comments

Kinda disappointed

[mewsenews]

The theme is to DIY an AI project but all you are DIYing is a box that sends audio to google's servers to interpret and send back. I saw on HackADay that they may have promised you can do it all on-device but nobody has confirmed that. The whole thing seems like they are trying to convince techies/makers that it's a good idea to have an always-on microphone in their home and the tech press is parroting it. The Google Home and Amazon Alexa products are creepy as f**k

Re:Kinda disappointed

[FatdogHaiku]

https://xkcd.com/1807/

Someone Update the Poll

[mentil]

One of the better aspects of this is that one can make a less-creepy digital assistant. For example, have it require a button press before it activates the microphone (I'm unsure if any existing ones already claim to do this, but one can ensure that their DIY device actually does this.) The source code presumably contains a URL the data is sent to; one could change this to send the audio data anywhere (without messing with routing/host files), your own computer running audio-processing software if you'd like. I'm still not sure I see the use-case for such a device, though. Quicker Trivial Pursuit fact-checking?

Re-read the summary

[raymorris]

Quoting the summary:

can
A) use cloud services (like the new Google Assistant SDK or Cloud Speech API)
Or
B) run completely on-device

Re:Re-read the summary

[mentil]

quoting the GP:

they may have promised you can do it all on-device but nobody has confirmed that

As in, we'll believe it when we see it.

Open APIs are not 'Open Source'

[hughbar]

Rinse and repeat. Generously, you are being offered the 'opportunity' to connect your Raspberry Pi to Google infrastructure, benefiting them and making your dwelling another listening outpost:

connect it to the Google Assistant. Along with everything the Google Assistant already does, you can add your own question and answer pairs.

I'm investigating for myself this at the moment and I believe that the most agnostic one is currently Mycroft: https://mycroft.ai/about-mycro... but this still needs to be 'paired' with: https://home.mycroft.ai/. So it's a question of degree and who do you trust/want to support.

There's a niche for a full-stack open source one, I believe built from Sphinx etc.: http://cmusphinx.sourceforge.n... OK, I'm thinking like Stallman, but it's important not to get sucked into Google, Amazon and Facebook with the false lure of 'open source' NOT, as Wayne and Garth would say.