Voice conversation
It listens, understands and answers out loud, in French, like a true assistant.
Robotics & AI
Reachy Mini
A desktop robot that talks, understands and acts.
I turned a small desktop robot into a voice assistant I can extend as I please: it holds a conversation in French, can be piloted by voice and triggers real actions on the computer. All programmed directly on the robot.
In action
The demo
The robot in real conditions, on my desk.
What I built
Much more than a talking toy
The goal: a vocal companion I extend myself, capable of acting for real rather than just answering.
It acts, not just speaks
Beyond speech: it writes files, runs commands and searches the web, delegating to an AI agent.
Extensible tool system
A new capability is a Python file dropped into a folder: the robot loads it on its own.
Custom voice
A calm, deep synthesized voice, with the head and antennae moving in rhythm with the words.
Local voice pipeline
Speech recognition and synthesis that run on the machine, without depending on a cloud service.
Open source, modifiable
Built on the robot's official Python SDK. Nothing is locked, everything can be rewritten.
Under the hood
The stack
Voice, understanding and actions hand-assembled around the robot's SDK, with a fully local mode to bypass the cloud.
PythonSDK reachy-miniWhisperVoxtralGemini TTSOpenRouter
How it works
From voice to action
Three stages, from captured sound to real action.
01
You speak
A phrase spoken to the robot, captured by the microphone.
02
It understands
Speech becomes text, a model decides what to answer or which tool to trigger.
03
It answers or it acts
Spoken answer, or real action: write a file, search the web, run a command.
And also
The hardware
Motorized headExpressive antennaeOnboard cameraBuilt-in speakerEmotions