In case you’ve been living on the moon for the last few years, Amazon has released a device similar to Siri or Google Now but as a standalone device. This device is called Amazon Echo, it retails at over £150 which quite frankly seems a bit pricey considering it’s basically a mic, speaker, and small microcomputer. I decided to make my own using nothing more than a Raspberry Pi, mic and speaker. Enjoy

Here is a list of everything I used and how much it was.

1 x Raspberry Pi 1 version B (£30 from Element14)

1 x 2.1v USB power wire + socket (I had this laying around but you can get ones for around £4)

1 x USB Microphone (£1 from Aliexpress)

1 x 8gb sd card (£2 from Aliexpress)

1 x ethernet wire (I have loads of these from the various broadband companies I’ve been with over the years but again you can get these online for around £1)

1 x powered speakers (I had an old set laying around in the flat but you can get decent ones online for around £10)

On top of this, you will need a USB keyboard and an HDMI cord for initial setup

Total = £48

 

and here is the final product.