The Raspberry Pi hardly needs any help when it comes to projects – the community is enormous, and so is the available documentation. But when one of the giants of the web takes an interest in that hardware, some very interesting things can happen. The Raspberry Pi Foundation joined forces with none other than Google to distribute the Voice Kit, a component package that turns a Raspberry Pi into a small but powerful home assistant, based on Google Assistant.
Personal assistants in the home are quickly gaining traction, thanks to devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home. They've even caught the attention of other companies through advertising campaigns, and everything suggests they will keep advancing. The Amazon Echo Dot costs just $50, while the Google Home is available for $115. But what about the DIY route? The APIs and SDKs exist, so anyone could replicate their functions. However, the hardware aspect remains to be solved, and that's where the Raspberry Pi comes in. The foundation formed a team with Google, and the result is Voice Kit, a new project under Mountain View's "Artificial Intelligence Yourself" initiative.
What's inside the Voice Kit?
The kit includes a special module that connects to the Raspberry Pi (models 3, 2, Zero, and Zero W), a stereo microphone, a three-inch speaker, a button with a light inside, various cables, connectors, and a cardboard housing. The complete assembly takes about an hour and a half, and no soldering is required: the only external tools you need are a Phillips 00 screwdriver and a bit of tape.
The official site provides the SD image for the Voice Kit to work correctly, and once online, you need to visit Google Cloud Platform, start a project, activate the Google Assistant API, and confirm several credentials. It's eleven steps in total, quite easy to follow.
The Voice Kit looks great, even with the cardboard housing. As a collaborative effort between Google and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, it can only be acquired with issue 57 of the official MagPi magazine, whose distribution outside the United Kingdom and the United States is very scarce (reports say reservations have already sold out). I hope the official Raspberry Pi store and its main commercial partners will offer this project in the near future.
For more information, visit the Official site.
