Had an idea about a supercharged Alexa

[eWOOD29]

I recently became aware that the code for Alexa is actually open source which allows you to run it on basically any computer and got an idea: what if you put alexa on some sort of powerful computer with a super fast internet connection somewhere in your house and wired microphones/speakers to different rooms so she could hear you everywhere? Is something like this even possible and would you notice faster responses? If so, I think it'd be really cool to see a video covering this as it might be something I would actually think about doing.

[RyzenUp]

Na bro, twin turbo

[seon123]

You want to bug your own house, connect it to the internet, and send all of the audio to Amazon? 

It's... not something I would do, personally. 

Edited October 13, 2018 by seon123
Something something

[GoodBytes]

17 minutes ago, eWOOD29 said:

I recently became aware that the code for Alexa is actually open source which allows you to run it on basically any computer and got an idea: what if you put alexa on some sort of powerful computer with a super fast internet connection somewhere in your house and wired microphones/speakers to different rooms so she could hear you everywhere? Is something like this even possible and would you notice faster responses? If so, I think it'd be really cool to see a video covering this as it might be something I would actually think about doing.

You don't need a super feast computer or super fast connection.You need more microphones, and the software updated to support them (you don't want mix all the mics together, as else it won't pick up anything, as other conversations in different room will overshadow the audio analysis).

 

If you want to super charge Alexa in functionality, then you can use Cortana instead, and have her connect to Alexa. This allows you to have the better voice recognition and voice processing of Cortana + Cortana features + Alexa features.

[DezGalbie]

20 minutes ago, eWOOD29 said:

Is something like this even possible and would you notice faster responses?

 

If Alexa can be run on any computer like you say then sure, it's possible. And in theory the faster the internet connection the faster Alexa would send information from you to whichever device on the other end is receiving your question. So there would most likely be a very small increase in the speed of response, but I doubt it would be all that noticeable. It would seem like the delay in response is more down to processing, voice recognition, and finding the correct information in response to your request rather than simply the sending of your request to the Alexa server (or whatever it is).

Basically, it sounds like a whole lot of effort to duplicate a function which you probably already have in your phone through Siri, Bixby, Google Assistant, or whatever else. You already have this same service anywhere you go, not just anywhere in your house, and there's no need to go rigging up speakers and microphones everywhere.

[Catsrules]

Why don't you just buy multiple echos and place them in every room in your house? Honestly it would probably be cheaper then trying to do your own thing. Your average house probably has maybe 7-10 rooms. At $40 per echo your looking at $400 for a total coverage Alexa home.

 

 

[vanished]

Seems like a really bad idea.  Reminds me of this

 

But you could accomplish the same thing with several normal alexa devices scattered around your house.

[Car712]

Why would you willingly put microphones all around your house, *possibly* sending all your conversations to amazon?

[Boomwebsearch]

1 minute ago, bobbyd52 said:

Why would you willingly put microphones all around your house, *possibly* sending all your conversations to amazon?

This sounds like a very interesting concept and one that does seem to being a good idea to make it happen. Although I think that if Amazon actually decided to sell a product line up towards this concept they would need for people to be able to select the number of microphones that they would need and that is not very easy as for large buildings due to there being a lot of calculations needing to be done especially towards the positioning of the microphones. The main point of this project is for the wow factor or being able to ask "alexa" any questions that you want no matter where within a building you are located in. A feature to mute the microphone/s within this setup would be good to have although I do not think that Amazon is going to physically have staff listen to your conversations and in the worst case they use feedback from your experience asking the assistant a question in order to improve. And nowadays, other assistants such as the Google assistant are just directly asking for feedback while you use the assistant as that would make it much easier for them to take in the large amount of feedback going to them for improvement purposes.

[Car712]

1 minute ago, Boomwebsearch said:

This sounds like a very interesting concept and one that does seem to being a good idea to make it happen. Although I think that if Amazon actually decided to sell a product line up towards this concept they would need for people to be able to select the number of microphones that they would need and that is not very easy as for large buildings due to there being a lot of calculations needing to be done especially towards the positioning of the microphones. The main point of this project is for the wow factor or being able to ask "alexa" any questions that you want no matter where within a building you are located in. A feature to mute the microphone/s within this setup would be good to have although I do not think that Amazon is going to physically have staff listen to your conversations and in the worst case they use feedback from your experience asking the assistant a question in order to improve. And nowadays, other assistants such as the Google assistant are just directly asking for feedback while you use the assistant as that would make it much easier for them to take in the large amount of feedback going to them for improvement purposes.

Oh I definitely see it being a cool idea, but I was just talking about the *possible* privacy issues. But anyways, it is interesting!

[Canada EH]

"Alexa what can you do?"

"I can control your life"

 

That is scary A.F.