What is this?
It turns a second-hand Amazon Echo Dot (2nd gen, 2016) into a local voice satellite for Home Assistant: say the wake word, ask, and hear the answer from the Dot. No Amazon account, no Alexa, no cloud - the microphones, speaker, LED ring and buttons keep working.
It turns a second-hand Amazon Echo Dot (2nd gen, 2016) into a local voice satellite for Home Assistant: say the wake word, ask, and hear the answer from the Dot. No Amazon account, no Alexa, no cloud - the microphones, speaker, LED ring and buttons keep working.Is this software running on my computer, on the Dot itself, or both?Both. A controller runs on your own network as a Home Assistant add-on or Docker container, and the Dot itself gets replacement firmware - emOS by default, or rooted FireOS.
Both. A controller runs on your own network as a Home Assistant add-on or Docker container, and the Dot itself gets replacement firmware - emOS by default, or rooted FireOS.What does setup look like from zero to a working Dot?Three steps: unlock the Dot once over USB with R0rt1z2's amonet-biscuit tool, start the controller as a Home Assistant add-on or Docker container, then run the setup wizard from the dashboard with the Dot plugged in - it installs everything and joins your WiFi.
Three steps: unlock the Dot once over USB with R0rt1z2's amonet-biscuit tool, start the controller as a Home Assistant add-on or Docker container, then run the setup wizard from the dashboard with the Dot plugged in - it installs everything and joins your WiFi.Do I need anything besides the Dot itself?Home Assistant with a working Assist pipeline and an always-on computer for the controller. The one-time unlock also needs a Linux machine (a live USB works), a micro-USB cable and Chrome or Edge - the unlock does not run on macOS.
Home Assistant with a working Assist pipeline and an always-on computer for the controller. The one-time unlock also needs a Linux machine (a live USB works), a micro-USB cable and Chrome or Edge - the unlock does not run on macOS.What can go wrong, and is the Dot at risk?It is not ready out of the box: the unlock can soft-brick the Dot if a step goes wrong (the XDA thread covers recovery). Only the 2nd-gen Dot works today - Dot 3, Echo 2 and Echo Show 8 ports are in progress - and emOS on FireOS 6 cannot join WPA3 networks.
It is not ready out of the box: the unlock can soft-brick the Dot if a step goes wrong (the XDA thread covers recovery). Only the 2nd-gen Dot works today - Dot 3, Echo 2 and Echo Show 8 ports are in progress - and emOS on FireOS 6 cannot join WPA3 networks.Does anything I say leave my network?Your speech stays on your LAN: the Dot listens for its wake word itself, then audio goes to the controller and on to Home Assistant, with no telemetry or analytics. With a fully local Assist pipeline (Whisper and Piper) nothing leaves your network.
Your speech stays on your LAN: the Dot listens for its wake word itself, then audio goes to the controller and on to Home Assistant, with no telemetry or analytics. With a fully local Assist pipeline (Whisper and Piper) nothing leaves your network.Is the license plain MIT, or is there fine print?MIT for EchoMuse itself, but third-party components keep their own licences (NOTICE.md), and emOS releases bundle busybox (GPL-2.0) and wpasupplicant (BSD) with sources attached.
MIT for EchoMuse itself, but third-party components keep their own licences (NOTICE.md), and emOS releases bundle busybox (GPL-2.0) and wpasupplicant (BSD) with sources attached.What can the revived Dot actually do?Voice turns through Home Assistant's Assist, wake word on the Dot or on the controller, barge-in, and multi-Dot homes where the first Dot to hear the wake word answers. Each Dot also works as a Home Assistant media player (media browser, Music Assistant, radio), plus timers, announcements, a Bluetooth proxy per Dot and an ambient light sensor.
Voice turns through Home Assistant's Assist, wake word on the Dot or on the controller, barge-in, and multi-Dot homes where the first Dot to hear the wake word answers. Each Dot also works as a Home Assistant media player (media browser, Music Assistant, radio), plus timers, announcements, a Bluetooth proxy per Dot and an ambient light sensor.emOS or rooted FireOS - which should I pick?emOS is the default: it replaces Amazon's Android with a small Linux userspace, runs on FireOS 5 and 6 devices, and the 3.5mm jack works properly on it; the wizard keeps your original boot image and restoring takes about ten seconds. Rooted FireOS keeps Android 5, works on FireOS 5 only, and is the older, more battle-tested path.
emOS is the default: it replaces Amazon's Android with a small Linux userspace, runs on FireOS 5 and 6 devices, and the 3.5mm jack works properly on it; the wizard keeps your original boot image and restoring takes about ten seconds. Rooted FireOS keeps Android 5, works on FireOS 5 only, and is the older, more battle-tested path.Can I train my own wake word?Yes - you train wake words with owwforge and install them from the dashboard. Detection can run on each Dot or on the controller, and the controller takes over automatically if a Dot cannot do it, so it never goes deaf.
Yes - you train wake words with owwforge and install them from the dashboard. Detection can run on each Dot or on the controller, and the controller takes over automatically if a Dot cannot do it, so it never goes deaf.Does the Dot's mute button really cut the microphones?Not at the hardware level. It is a software mute: it silences the microphones in the audio chip and EchoMuse refuses to listen while it is on, but the Dot 2 has no hardware switch that disconnects them.
Not at the hardware level. It is a software mute: it silences the microphones in the audio chip and EchoMuse refuses to listen while it is on, but the Dot 2 has no hardware switch that disconnects them.What are similar projects?techo5, local_roborock_server, espectre, Tasmota, V3SP3R, esphome, xiaozhi-esp32, lipflow
techo5, local_roborock_server, espectre, Tasmota, V3SP3R, esphome, xiaozhi-esp32, lipflowWhich topics is it in?smart-home, root, home-assistant, media-player, home-automation, bluetooth, music-player, voice-assistant, homelab, audio-processing, local-ai, whisper
smart-home, root, home-assistant, media-player, home-automation, bluetooth, music-player, voice-assistant, homelab, audio-processing, local-ai, whisper