The era of open voice assistants has arrived

Because of googles enshitification I have stopped using voice to control my home entirely. I invested in many scene remotes and built extensive automations. I've come to not miss voice control at all. But here's to you that want this either for assistive needs or just because. I just need to get a few more local TTS speakers for alerts.

I've had my eye on this for a while, haven't dropped the dough on a PCB order

https://github.com/justLV/onju-voice

A hackable AI home assistant platform using the Google Nest Mini (2nd gen) form factor, consisting of:

a custom PCB designed to be a drop-in replacement to the original, using the ESP32-S3 for audio processing

a server for handling the transcription, response generation and Text-to-Speech from multiple devices on the same network
- I ordered some I have 4 other PCBs
  
  My main problem with this is that the speaker isn't as loud as with the original board...

I'm so excited for this! I was able to make an order. Homeassistant is making such a difference here. I was a Mycroft supporter and it's so great that since they've gone away we've still got hardware in this space. This hardware makes so much sense too, I hope the voice train keeps rolling!

I followed mycroft for years. It was a bit of a mess. I was sad to see it kinda die.
- Same here :(

I wish I could repurpose my Home Minis to use this. Google butchered those entirely over time, so now they're practically collecting dust, when I dont use them as an occasional room speaker

Somebody else linked this mobo replacement for the home minis, haven't looked very closely at it yet myself: https://github.com/justLV/onju-voice
I feel the same but in 2026 and with echo flex.

Ordered. I'm am so excited for this as it seems it could replace my only use case for Google Home / Nest voice.

Was anyone able to order one? I saw this last night and at 2 hours after post, all three us retailers were saying sold out. I suppose it’s a good problem for ha to have.

Edit: one of the retailers updated their message to “ we have sold out of our initial HA Voice stock in 21 minutes”

European retailers seem to be better stocked

I look forward to getting my hands on one of these! Just need to work out where to put it in the house first.

And possibly waiting for a POE version. But that's a nit-pick.

Is it possible to test this out using a phone or PC? I really like the idea of local voice assist.

IIRC the home assistant android app has VA functionality built in.

Not sure if it works in the same way as this box though.
- One of the best parts of HA is the HomeKit bridge: any supported device is exposed to HomeKit ….. so if I’m using a personal device, my VA is Siri. Much smoother and more integrated than any of the app VAs. I have it configured to require a click, so it’s not always listening. However the rumors of the upcoming Apple smart home hub are mighty enticing, so we’ll see
  
  I stopped using Google Assistant years ago.
  
  Echo devices are pretty much in every room and a huge privacy issue. Also that’s my one integration with the biggest internet dependency. I don’t know if I can get rid of them, but I’d surely like to try
Mod Magic.

Are there difference between this and a 13$ M5 Atom Echo?

Yes
- Point given for accuracy of response.
- Like...?
  
  Edit: I've bought the M5 some months ago but I haven't had the time to play around with it, should I buy this one and forget about the M5?
Yeah the mic and speaker on the atom are OK if you are within 2 feet, beyond that they aren't any good. This looks good
- Thanks
- I couldn't get mine to work properly at all. They're barely reacting to "okay nabu" and when they do they just misunderstand what I'm saying after the trigger words.

Neat! I hope we can add on a speaker, we use ours for playing audio

if you want to use it as a media player, connect a speaker to the included 3.5mm headphone jack and control it with software like Music Assistant.
- God idk how I missed that, but thank you
- It works well.
  
  I have done the same thing with custom hardware, ESPHome, and routed the output to my old Yamaha AV receiver with an IR blaster in the device for auto source switching and volume control.
  
  I can't wait for music assistant to integrate Spotify connect because right now you can only play saved playlist/albums or some recent music, no browsing.
  
  A media player component plus microphone plus voice assistant.

Is the whole stack open source or do we have to buy their hardware or license their software?

Their device does look very slick, but I'd like to hack my own system together!

It’s all OSS.
Even better - it's using ESPHome, which is part of the Home Assistant stack.

ESPHome works from a YAML config file, which ESPHome uses to build firmware images which can be installed OTA (or USB of you must)

That pretty sweet. The previous open source voice control solution I'd seen (Mycroft?) was like 400 bucks per device.

Might have to grab a mini PC and replace some of this Alexa shit which gets progressively worse since they announced a premium version.

I just need shit to do what it's told, not try to sell me things.

Only 2.4GHz WiFi?

Why would it need 5GHz? At most it needs to do two audio streams, which aren't going to need lots of bandwidth
- Interference. Especially in apartment complexes, the 2.4Ghz band is busy, causing a lot of packet drops and random disconnects.

No POE = Deal breaker for me

Although it's a very promising start. Looks great.

It's USB-C, there are POE adapters. It's low wattage using an esp32, you could absolutely use a USB c poe splitter for this.
- That solves only power, not Ethernet.
What's POE, precious?
- Power over Ethernet
You could always use a POE splitter. I know it’s not the same but it’s better than yet another wall wort.
- Still no ethernet.
It doesn't even have Ethernet, how could it have poe? Also poe is just stupidly expensive for what it is.
- Exactly. No Ethernet + no POE. That's my point. WiFi only is a big no-no for me.

Nice! Been holding off on HA voice stuff, waiting for a more plug and play solution, so I've been watching this pretty closely. Managed to get one ordered before they (presumably) go out of stock in the UK. Hoping it arrives soon so I can tinker during the break!

Man, I hope someone designs a dock for this with a better speaker for music!!!

Good news indeed

I mean...kinda?

Why the flying fuck does everyone seem to use voice assistants and AI bullshit. I don't need to waste five seconds to get a bullshit response and to repeat myself when I don't get the wrong answer or to switch the light in the room next to me when I can make ten steps

For turning on lights and starting and stopping a Heatpump, voice assistants are awesome.

Turning on and off lights and setting timers is what most people use Alexa for. And a certain number use it for music too.

Most people don’t use any of the “assistant” or “ai” features these smart speakers have.

I’ve found it difficult to find other uses. But these ones are great.
- This is exactly right. It’s like “hey Google” or “hey Siri” for setting a reminder on your phone, but it’s for your house to dim all the lights or whatever.
  
  Lots of technology used to do a very limited number of things, but convenient things nonetheless.
- For turning on lights and starting and stopping a Heatpump, voice assistants are awesome.
  
  Oh, leave me alone...
  
  A smart home should know by itself when to turn the lights on for me, and without me needing to tell it every single time.
  
  I want voice assistant when it is able to fetch me another beer (and then it has to go either to the fridge or down in the basement)
Why the flying fuck would anyone want a home automation system that isn't voice controlled?

I don't want a voice assistant controlled by Google, Amazon, or Apple... but I value it so much I'm willing to compromise until there's a better option. This is a huge step in the right direction.

I setup my voice activated lights when my daughter was an infant. It was great being able to sit in a chair and rock her to sleep and be able to say "Google, it's nap time" and have the lights properly adjust, and the fan turn on. I also use it in my office when I have a video call to adjust the lights so my camera looks better. I can also lock my door, adjust my HVAC, and play music without needing to stop doing whatever I'm busy with.
People with disabilities would like a word with you.
- Truth.
  
  My mom has been controlling her phone by yelling at it for over five years. She can barely see the screen, but still wants to talk to her sister and shop.
  
  Easy come easy go.
Voice assistants have been great in my experience for smart home stuff. Dunno about ai bullshit

Few examples:

Come home in the evening with a bunch of groceries: “turn on the lights” is handy. I don’t see great and yet I’m irresponsible and will walk into a dark house with way too many bags in my hands

Cooking: again, hands busy. Change lighting, set timers, play music, etc

General laziness: sitting on the couch and decide to watch a movie, set a scene for optimal lighting. Granted this one is easily handled by using phone or just standing up, but voice is easier

Solid mic choice and placement avoids the repeat myself issue, for the most part. Can be an issue mainly during cooking tasks where there can be a lot of environmental noise and loud music playing. But worth the occasional snag, imo
I get it. I never use my Google home mini for answering anything other than, "what's the weather outside" and "where is my phone".

Honestly, if this can do those two things, my home mini can finally get recycled.

The era of open voice assistants has arrived - Home Assistant