Picroft is such an interesting project. You can make it completely offline as well using a pre trained deep speech model. There is a video on their RU-vid channel with a pi4 offline doing some home automation with custom skills. Would love to see more pi AI. Thanks for another great video good Sir.
@Matt I think out of all the personal assistants Mycroft is the most privacy oriented. After following them for years i can say that I trust them the most. I'm like you i don't want to rely on an internet connection.(and privacy)I want a lot of functions to work without it. For weather yeah i get that. Most other things....we can do offline.
I lost interest when he said it uses their servers. If theres a local way this sounds significantly more interesting to me. Thanks for the info. Would be nice to know how it compares for features (still full set of internet services?), whether the local training data (and service plugins) automatically gets updated periodically, whether services can be moved fully client-side too (like WolframAlpha, suspect not), how much is the response time improved by cutting out all the voice uploads (or is it even worse depending on processing power)?
I'd advise against having Mycroft control the studio doors. At some point, he might tell you that 'the problem can only be attributable to human error', and refuse to open them.
Excellent reference to a computer first activated 12 January 1992 (in 3 days to be 30 years old) (movie reference), but hopefully more like Mycroft Holmes IV (Moon is a Harsh Mistress)...
Since you ask, this is exactly the sort of content for which I go to this channel. Before this, despite having briefly fiddled with the Voice AIY and having an interest in voice recognition and IOT, I hadn't even heard of Mycroft. I use my "smart speakers" a lot but really don't want large tech companies in the loop when a FOSS solution exists.
I'm absolutely gutted this wasn't around when I was doing my PhD! Open source voice assistants and synthesised speech via a Pi was something of a rarity back then. Things have moved on so much!
@@jasoneverett Not at all. A PhD is a lot of work but it's not the reason I mentioned it! 🙂 My work was in this area and I'd wanted an entire implementation on a PI so I could carry it around for demonstrations / studies. Unfortunately the technology just wasn't available. So I ended up lugging around a huge heavy laptop!
Well Chris, would't you know it, I actually DO have a Playstation Eye hanging around. I've managed to use it with several applications on laptop and desktop pc as someone once created a driver that can be persuaded to co-operate with non-Playstation systems. As old as it is I always thought it would make a good microphone and/or webcam if only I could get it to run. As someone who previously ran an Alexa-type system on a Raspberry Pi following instructions in one of your videos (I used the recommended usb standalone mini-mic at the time) I am over the moon to see that this new Alexa-like project is compatible with the Playstation Eye out of the box. When I have time I'll try to get this all up and running. Great stuff Chris. You are one of the most inspirational and helpful people on RU-vid as far as I'm concerned. You make everything so accessible.
Yes, especially if everything could be computed locally... I don't need Big Tech to listen to everything I say (That's why I put my mobile phone away when I'm home...).
Wow dude. You have the most polished videos. I love the way you have the setup options pop up in a box on the video. Makes it so helpful for following along. 👍
It would be awesome to see a series on this. I like the idea of virtual assistants, but I don't like using the off the shelf solutions for a number of reasons. Ideally I'd like to see local speech processing, and the ability to interface with either LAN devices, or Zigbee/Z-wave hubs. Deep learning would also be cool to see. Great video as always!
Picroft also works well with Home Assistant for basic things like turning lights/switches on and off, hopefully expands more in that regard. It's funny, I had no interest in talking to my phone to ask things, but got really accustomed to it with picoft in the house.
Thank you for the reminder about the new video on your Explaining the Future channel. I'd forgotten that you were publishing one video a month there now, and I hadn't watched it yet.
This is very interesting. I have avoided corporate video and speech interaction devices (except for my phone that I often put in a Faraday bag) because of privacy concerns. Not that anyone is particularly interested in my life.... But, I have some linux machines around here and I'm definitely going to try this as I see they have a Linux version. Thanks very much.
Didn't know about Mycroft so kudos for this video. Some follow up questions, for a subsequent video, are: 1. Other English tts voice models? (Jarvis would be great) 2. Is the cloud ASR (and parts) open source such that they can be operated locally without an internet connection? Even though they promise so fervently that my data will be private, I don't (and never) will trust any external organization to be honest or even to be free from hackers. You know the adage, "if I don't have root access, then someone else does"
Hello Chris, Another excellent video. Please continue this AI series. I would be interested to see if this can be implemented on an existing pi4 setup (overclocked, pwm fan script running, and oled display script running) rather than from scratch. Perhaps on a VM or on a docker setup? Very interested to see the GPIO control as well. Real world pi applications. Keep up the great work. Thank you.
Great video! I remember that you cover Raspberry Pi Google AIY Voice Kit in 2017, at that time I built one Google Assistant too running on an old RaspberryPi2 (ArchLinux) + PS3Eye Camera (cheap + good microphones) + speaker and with a hack to accept voice command "Ok Google" without need to press a button, it works great too.
Ah yes, let's release a free version of an AI assistant program for the cheapest computer option on the market and then only officially support proprietary hardware that costs more than the whole computer does. Brilliant!
It's one way to stop it from creating a Mycroft Hive Mind that will take over the world. Or at least make it harder. At least they didn't call it Moriarty.
Brilliant as always Christopher.. Id love to see videos on.. 1. AI on the PI... 2. Linux fundamentals - installing an OS, Command line navigation, suggested Linux alternatives to common windows programs..
"Hey Joshua!" >>Boodeep! "Let's play Global Thermal Nuclear War!" >>Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess? "Maybe later!" "Let's play Global Thermal Nuclear War!" >>... Fine.
I find it strange that Rpi Org does not have any official microphones/speakers available, spending more on a microphone than the Pi actualy costs does not sit right with me, I have loads of microphones that I would like to use but it looks as though I shall have to get hold of a USB microphone. Being an open source project I hope someone enables the changing of the wake word as I would love to call my VA by the name Orac or Zen as I am an avid Blakes 7 fan
Another option for the microphones is recently designed ** Miko ** USB microphone based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU (for a much improved SNR), for local speech-to-text over deep learning models to be even more private :)
Hello Chris :) Massive thanks to your two channels, RU-vid must give this man THE algorithm. Need I say more lol In all seriousness, bestselling content delivered to your face by a interesting beast! Tom
I would definitely want to see more AI videos. In particular those that can be used in a Code Club with 7 - 13 year olds. This one, on Picroft, is good as a standalone project, but I would like to build an R Pi image with multiple AI components not exclusive to just one topic, if that's possible?
Actually that project looked like I could reproduce it. Of course you did all the research! How about adding Mycroft to your raspberry pi tank project? “Hey Mycroft, turn left.“. Of course having AI use the tank’s camera to navigate on it’s own would be a fascinating but complicated project. Looking forward to your next video!
I notice that at no point did we see Christopher except from the midriff up. “We are in Buckingham Palace, the very heart of the British nation. Sherlock Holmes, put your trousers on!” -Mycroft Holmes.
So many projects, so little time..... I am just venturing into Pi and Linux thanks to your videos. It is really fun and doesn't blow a lot of cash into a bottomless pit to get started. Two of my pi's: one is used in the kitchen by my wife as cook book. Made a wooden slim cabinet with an old monitor. Gets used a lot. Second is a surveillance cam for the house. Works great and was fun to set up.
Although a very handy tutorial, and it's great that it's open source, but the problem is you're still trusting a random server to promise to delete your data. Sure I'm not actually interesting enough for anybody to care about me, but given the cost of a Pi these days, it's a higher cost to make, and it's just trading out which company do you trust for a product with less features. That being said it's still a fun 'make it because' project.
I love your channel and have been watching it for the past year or so. You are always very informative, clear and humorous. I would love more AI topics
As always Chris makes excellent videos that are thought provoking, just think of the future possibilities as things improve. Looking forward to next Sunday :)
I'm checking this out on a spare Pi 3 with a Google AIY hat, and it works very nicely. Hopefully more skills become available with time, but the ones it currently has are still very useful, and I feel better about privacy since it's all open source. Thanks for the video, this is a lot of fun! I'd definitely like to learn more about sensors, screens, cameras, web APIs or other things that can be hooked into the AI system.
Thank you for this video. I have been aware of the Mycroft project and am glad to see that it has produced usable results. And wouldn't you know it, I just happen to have a spare Pi laying around. Oh. But I think with a name like Mycroft, the British male dialect would be most appropriate.
Thank you very much for your outstanding presentation Professor Barnatt. I had long wanted to experiment with voice-activated AI, but hadn't made up my mind to do so because the other "free" services don't respect privacy. This excellent video has provided me with the existence of a private and open source solution. At the moment I have a very tight work schedule but I am planning to experiment with Mycroft for the end of January 2022, but on the Linux platform. Please I would love to see more Mycroft AI.Greetings.
At first I could not get audio out of the stable; released Picroft image 2020-09-07 through my 3.5mm amplified speaker; so I tried the newer release candidate 2021-06-04 and it worked fine. I was also able to load it without a monitor and keyboard by the usual method of putting an empty ssh file in the boot partition along with the wpa_supplicant.conf file I always use; so headless worked great.
wow great stuff man cheerio mate you've really out done yourself here with such great complexity unseen in the whole of human history. A+ *RU-vid filtered*
Was the Mycroft response time edited? That's *so much* faster than the last time I played around with it. The former delay was the chief reason I stopped playing around with it. I'd love to see more videos about practical uses of SBCs, in particular some edge computing cases that would be useful in the home (especially SBCs with AI processors built-in/added). This video was - wait for it - excellent.
The response time was not edited -- I even left in the occasion when it did not respond and I had to ask again. It does depend on the question asked (and skill involved) -- eg it replies to the time far faster than asking what something is. So maybe things have improved. Edge computing and SBCs is on my list. :)
An interesting video, gives me some idea for how to use a future Pi . As I said before I’m not technical and like my technology plug and play, so I would need to get used to another way of working.
Have we just met the latest member of the EC family? We have Stanley the Knife, Phillip the Screwdriver, and now we have Mike, the Microphone Dongle. Well done, sir. I forgot what name you attributed to your scissors.
We from MI6 like it very much that you present a project in which microphones are an essential (and installed) part, Christopher ... :) Joking aside, great project and thank you for the hard work:) No need for the big data collectors to have fun with voice A.I. (Besides I am using keyboard and keyboard shortcuts, right now ... which are always faster to use, but have to be learned like bicycle riding, than ... how was this called? ... ah, talking! :) )
I just did this last week. The usb mic I have I'm not sure about and got hold of the PlayStation mic. That works fine! Still works out to be a not cheap alternative using a Pi4 but hopefully keeps it personal and private. God video. ATB
I managed to get 3 AIY hats (model 1) for $9.95 each at a local electronics store. Originally bought them for the motor and servo features. Now I have a use for the mic and speaker functions.
7:20 - I love how you arranged the icons on your desktop. :) Personally I like to keep my desktop clean, thus empty. However it keeps filling with junk.
04:19 just what i say when i am desperate for a pee! ( sorry, a bit crude but was my first thought ) 😂 on a serious notr though this project is something i am tempted to try out, i think project videos are one of my favourites.
The more our society wants to be connected to the internet, the less privacy everyone has. You can not tell me that there are not hackers and Identity thieves that can't get past anyone firewalls, and even break into their VPN. I have an IT person right next door to me and he's actually demonstrated just how easy it is to get into a network without you knowing he's even there. I think I'll leave The Internet of Things alone. But you always do give us well informed videos on any subject.
Thank you Chris for making this, I also knew nothing about open source AI. I have several Pi's and a TinkerBoardS on a network and would love to be able to control them using this. Be an interesting exercise. Thank you again, and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you and yours. Best regards, Peter L
