Matrix Voice

Matrix Voice. © Matrix Labs.

Matrix Labs released last year the Matrix Creator, a powerful Raspberry Pi accessory that adds a whole bunch of sensors to the miniature computer (including a microphone array, temperature, UV, pressure, and more), letting you extend a Raspberry Pi into a full-fledged development device with a ton of different uses. And as a follow-up to the Matrix Creator, the company is going even smaller with the Matrix Voice — a cheaper version of the creator that focuses on one thing: voice recognition. That makes it even easier to use the Matrix Voice to do something like build your own Amazon Echo using Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service. Instead of the wide range of sensors, the Voice just has a microphone array and a ring of LED lights. But it’s also far cheaper, available for $55 on Indiegogo instead of the Creator’s $99.95 price tag. A slightly more expensive version that adds a built-in microcontroller with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is also available for $65. The Matrix Voice has already been fully funded on Indiegogo, and hopes to ship in May.

⇨ The Verge, Circuit Breaker, “The Matrix Voice is a circuit board to turn your Raspberry Pi into an Amazon Echo.”