Build a DIY Amazon Alexa

This tutorial will help you build your own Amazon’s Alexa using a Raspberry Pi and MATRIX Creator, the first Microphone Array add-on for Raspberry Pi.

We will use Alexa Voice Services (AVS), it is the service used by Amazon Echo that allows us to accomplish many of the challenging tasks in this project.

Step 1: Parts that you’ll need

build-a-diy-amazon-alexa

  • Raspberry Pi 2 or 3
  • 5V 2.0A Power Supply
  • Speaker (Needs Aux input)

Step 2: MATRIX Creator MEMS Microphones

MATRIX Creator has 8 MP34DB02 MEMS audio sensor omni-directional microphones.

  • Low power consumption
  • 120 dBSPL acoustic overload point
  • 62.6 dB signal-to-noise ratio
  • Omnidirectional sensitivity
  • –26 dBFS sensitivity

Step 3: Setting up the Software (This is from GitHub Quickstart)

Welcome to the MATRIX Creator! To enjoy your new board you’ll need to set it up. First, you need to have Raspbian installed on your Raspberry Pi. If you don’t have it, you can download it and follow the instructions.

Then you need to install the software that will allow you to program the MATRIX Creator. To do it, you need to configure APT. The following steps should do it:

echo "deb http:packages.matrix.one/matrix-creator/ ./" | sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list 

Now update the package list.

sudo apt-get update 

Then you can install the required packages.

sudo apt-get install matrix-creator-init cmake g++ git 

Now reboot the Raspberry Pi. After rebooting, the FPGA and SAM3 MCU will be programmed automatically. That is, after every reboot the FPGA will have the default firmware.

If you wish, you can also learn more about other features of MATRIX Creator on GithubQuestions? Post them on raspberrypi.stackexchange.com! Use the tag #matrix-creator.

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