There are a number of reasons you might want to build your own smart speaker virtual assistant. Usually, getting your weather forecast from a snarky, malicious AI potato isn’t one of them, unless you’re a huge Portal fan like [Binh Pham].
[Binh Pham] built the potato incarnation of GLaDOS from the Portal 2 video game with the help of a ReSpeaker Light kit, an ESP32-based board designed for speech recognition and voice control, and as an interface for home assistant running on a Raspberry Pi.
He resisted the temptation to use a real potato as an enclosure and wisely opted instead to print one from a 3D file he found on Thingiverse of the original GLaDOS potato. Providing the assistant with the iconic synthetic voice of GLaDOS was a matter of repackaging an existing voice model for use with Home Assistant.
Of course all of this attention to detail would be for naught if you had to refer to the assistant as “Google” or “Alexa” to get its attention. A bit of custom modelling and on-device wake word detection, and the cyborg tuber was ready to switch lights on and off with it’s signature sinister wit.
We’ve seen a number of projects that brought Portal objects to life for fans of the franchise to enjoy, even an assistant based on another version of the GLaDOS the character. This one adds a dimension of absurdity to the collection.
Nice project! It brings back fond memories, especially of how good video games were back then. Subscriptions and season passes really did a number on gaming.
A video link, and yet the article author missed the obvious “YouTuber” pun. Tch!
And yes, I agree re modern games. I spend most of my gaming $$ on GoG these days, and gain far more enjoyment out of even 20- or 30-year old titles than I thought possible.
A little nit: “all for not” should be “all for naught”.
Good catch. I’ve updated it. Thanks.
Just make sure Home Assistant can’t flood your home with a deadly neurotoxin first.
“He resisted the temptation to use a real potato as an enclosure” – a missed opportunity.
I suppose he didn’t want to make a hash of it.
Hahahah! Peels of laughter!
Sounded half baked to me
This design is very ap-peeling. I really like working on projects like this because time fries when you’re having fun