Before we can use a voice processing/voice assistant, we need to get the basic setup of giving the Raspberry Pi some speakers and a microphone. At the time of writing, there are a number of Raspberry Pi add-ons that can provide this. One simple one, with a microphone array (for better recognition) and a connection to speakers is the Seeed Studio Respeaker 2 HAT, which is widely available.
We will be creating a separate voice assistant board that will communicate with our robot, but we won't be putting it directly on the robot. This is for a few good reasons:
- Noise: A robot with motors will be a noisy environment. Having a microphone anywhere near the motors will make it close to useless.
- Power: The voice assistant is listening constantly. The robot has enough demands for power already with the other sensors that are running...
