XMOS powers open source voice-enabled Home Assistant

A microcontroller developed by XMOS in the UK is at the heart of the first open source voice-enabled Home Assistant.

The open source hardware and software supports the voice assistant built into the Home Assistant software for natural language processing.

The Preview kit is based on the Espressif ESP32S3 microcontroller, 8MB of octal PSRAM and the XMOS XU-316 AI sound and audio chip with a dual microphone array for far field voice capture up to 3m. The kit includes Natural Language recognition algorithms with Interference Cancellation (IC)​, Acoustic Echo Cancellation, Noise Suppression, and Automatic Gain Control (AGC), enabling high quality voice capture. A programmable WS2812 RGB LED, supports custom effects and a visual interface for applications.

The open source hardware is compatible with Arduino, PlatformIO, MicroPython and CircuitPython for further development, and links to the open source Home Assistant home hub, which runs on a Raspberry Pi or an embedded PC. Elektor has a range of devices and webinars on the Home Assistant technology.

A packaged version of the preview kit is available for $60 to provide local voice control of home networks, rather than using a commercial cloud service such as Alexa or Google Home. The is also a private cloud service for the Home Assistant to run more powerful AI algorithms and allow cheaper hub in the home.

“We all deserve a voice assistant that doesn’t harvest our data and arbitrarily limit features. In the same way Home Assistant made private and local home automation a viable option, we believe the same can, and must be done for voice assistants,” said Paulus Schoutsen, founder of the Home Assistant open source project.

“Since we began developing our open-source voice assistant for Home Assistant, one key element has been missing – great hardware that’s simple to set up and use. Hardware that hears you, gives you clear feedback, and seamlessly fits into the home,” he said.

“Many other voice assistants work with Home Assistant, but this one was built for Home Assistant. Unlike other voice hardware that can work with Assist, this doesn’t require flashing firmware or any assembly.”

The preview kit is intended to drive the development of future voice assistants and the base of the Home Assistant developments, he says.

“We’re not just launching a new product, we’re open sourcing all of it,” said Schoutsen. “We built this for the Home Assistant community. Our community doesn’t want a single voice assistant, they want the one that works for them – they want choice. Creating a voice assistant is hard, and until now, parts of the solution were locked behind expensive licenses and proprietary software. With Voice Preview Edition being open source, we hope to bootstrap an ecosystem of voice assistants.”

“We tried to make every aspect of Voice Preview Edition customizable, which is actually pretty easy when you’re working hand-in-hand with ESPHome and Home Assistant. It works great with the stock settings, but if you’re so inclined, you can customize the Assist software, ESP32 firmware, and XMOS firmware.”