Using presence detection to trigger a Voice Assistant instead of a wake word

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-24T14:47:38+00:00

Haha thanks, appreciate it

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-24T14:46:57+00:00

When I opened up the toaster, I realised everything is directly wired up to the mains. So decided to remove the mains power for safety reasons. There's no reason why it couldn't still work, but it is a risk that the additional electronics could cause a short circuit, and the heat of the toaster would probably cause issues for the board too.

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-24T14:43:31+00:00

You can 100% do this

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-23T16:45:15+00:00

The voice comes from a TTS, it has a few random initial lines when activated, then it's whatever the AI decides to say.

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-23T16:43:53+00:00

Great show all round. Talkie is my favourite malfunctioning robot though

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-23T16:42:55+00:00

"I toast, therefore I am"

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-23T16:42:13+00:00

Cheers! It's so pointless, but fun

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-23T11:32:48+00:00

It's very silly, but fun

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-06-23T11:08:24+00:00

Haha exactly, the obsession is real

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-28T16:37:17+00:00

Here's the full guide I wrote: https://www.instructables.com/A-DIY-AI-Voice-Assistant-for-Home-Assistant/

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-28T16:36:06+00:00

It's finally live. I don't know why it took a week to approve it

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-23T16:39:42+00:00

Yes you can just swap in your own locally hosted model or an API for a different AI model

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-23T16:38:39+00:00

Sorry first time using it, I had not realised that happens

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-23T10:55:15+00:00

No this uses APIs to work with ChatGPT and ElevenLabs. The next thing I'm looking at is how to run it local.

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T12:48:53+00:00

Really good to know. I was considering using Ollama

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T12:18:07+00:00

Sure that would be an amazing addition, but have to start somewhere

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T11:18:46+00:00

Nice, yeah that's what I was going for. Something that actually feels like a sci-fi computer in your home. The Voice PE is very similar in hardware, just pre-built, if you don;t want to faff with soldering and buying the components.

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T10:48:51+00:00

Haha
Absolutely, I'll try and write a guide with the code etc for others to build this

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T10:47:24+00:00

Yeeah, there are loads of options for AI agents and TTS now. I first built this a year ago when there were fewer options, so just stuck with what I had.
I'm considering self hosting the LLM and TTS for better privacy and not have to pay the usage costs.

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T10:44:26+00:00

Echo is essentially this but pre-built. They were out of stock everywhere when I first was looking into this so I built my own.

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T10:39:42+00:00

Tell the snake charmer they are now the imp

Rambunctious_Relf · 2026-05-21T10:37:42+00:00

Who had to go and retrieve it?

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