Home Assistant unveils its first hardware device with voice assistant.
Now you can ask Jarvis to turn off the lights.
A new voice assistant has been introduced that can operate locally at home, without the need to connect to corporate servers. This week, Home Assistant, a popular platform among home automation enthusiasts, officially launched its first voice assistant hardware: the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition. This device, designed for the open-source system, costs $59 and provides a privacy-focused voice assistant, operating autonomously.
By connecting the Voice PE to Home Assistant, users can control any connected device using voice commands such as "Turn on the living room lights" or "Close all doors." Until now, Home Assistant users could interact with their devices via voice using third-party hardware or cloud services, but this is the first hardware product exclusively dedicated to Home Assistant.
Voice PE is part of the "Year of Voice" initiative by Nabu Casa, the organization behind Home Assistant, aiming to enable users to control their homes locally and in their own language. This assistant supports over 50 languages, unlike Alexa, which offers only eight, and Google Assistant, which includes 20.
The device is roughly the size of a palm and features two microphones and an audio processor. It includes an internal speaker, but can also connect to an external speaker via a 3.5 mm jack to enhance sound quality. Users can activate it with predefined wake words like “Okay Nabu,” “Hey Jarvis,” or “Hey Mycroft.” A colored LED ring on top indicates when it is listening.
Additionally, the device's physical button is customizable for various functions, while a mute switch is located on the side. Power is supplied via USB-C, although the charger and cable are not included. It also has a Grove port for adding additional sensors and accessories.
Voice PE can operate offline on Home Assistant hardware, such as the Home Assistant Green hub, or utilize the cloud, which offers faster responses and support for more languages. According to Nabu Casa, data is not stored in the cloud nor is it used for training purposes.
This assistant may be a significant advancement for those looking to avoid the constantly listening microphones provided by companies like Amazon and Google while still seeking the convenience of voice control. However, some users indicate that Voice PE is not yet ready to replace devices like Echo or Nest.
Callie Wright, a superuser of Home Assistant, has been testing Voice PE for a few weeks and while she values its performance, she notes that it still lacks certain essential functions for her, suggesting that Alexa still outperforms this new assistant in some areas. Although the goal is to surpass the voice assistants from large corporations, Home Assistant founder Paulus Schoutsen acknowledges that there is still a long way to go.
For now, Voice PE can connect to compatible AI models, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, to enhance its capabilities. For many home automation users, a simple and affordable device that allows controlling lights, starting timers, and executing other useful commands without relying on the internet holds great value.
