Mycroft is the world’s first open source voice assistant for open hardware, created and under developments by a startup with the same name. Mycroft (the company) was founded back in 2015 with the goal of developing “AI for every human”, and because its software is open source, it can be installed in any devices, from computers to fridges, wearable, TVs, and cars etc.
By mid-2015, the company launched a Kickstarter campaigns for the development of the softwares and Mark 1, their reference, open hardware device. As can be seen from the company’s introductions video below, Mycroft’s skills range from answering factual question and some of the basics, such as the date, time, weather, set alarm, or play the news, to playing music, radio, podcasts, or movies and video on nearby display and to control other Wi-Fi connected appliances. Also, it is capable of using source like Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha to gather information and news.
Currently, Mycroft (the software) is on pre-alpha and can run on Linux-based computer, on Mycroft Mark 1, and even on Raspberry Pi board – which powers Mark 1. But the company expects to release Mycroft Core v18.02b by February 2018 with a more friendly and polished user experience after they are developed, with a production release expected by February 2019 or 2020 at the latest.
The first Mark 1 units from the Kickstarter campaigns were delivered last week to backer. Each device is priced at $129, in an effort to make it affordable enough so it can be used everywhere in the world. Also, the company is trying to differentiate its product from others by increasing integration capability, as can be seen in the image below.
Finally, Mycroft uses open APIs “to process languages, determine intent and obtain results”. By doing so, the company claims cost reduction, because it is not necessary to develop a deep learning neural network while enabling increased accuracy and usability of the AI. Regarding the collection of user information, Mycroft’s CEO, Joshua Montgomery, has affirmed that it will only be used for improving the technologies and after obtaining the user’s permissions.
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