Seeed Studio's ReSpeaker Lite and Voice Assistant Kit Offer Low-Power On-Device Voice Control
Featuring an XMOS XU316 chip, the new ReSpeaker Lite board can handle voice processing on-device without involving the host.
Seeed Studio has launched the ReSpeaker Lite, a new entry in its ReSpeaker family of microphone-packing development boards — and a full ReSpeaker Lite Voice Assistant Kit, for those looking for a quick-start for artificially intelligent home and office assistance projects.
"Powered by the XMOS XU316 AI Sound and Audio chipset, ReSpeaker Lite series excels in audio processing with its integrated dual microphone array, making it ideal for far-field speech recognition and voice control," Seeed's Lily Li says of the company's latest launch. "Featuring advanced onboard Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) algorithms, ReSpeaker Lite series is capable of capturing voice even in a noisy environment."
The ReSpeaker Lite range opens with a two-microphone array, using digial PDM MEMS microphones, offering I2S and USB connections for broad compatibility with microcontrollers and single-board computers — including Seeed's own XIAO ESP32S3 Sense and the popular Raspberry Pi. The company rates it good for far-field voice capture out to around 10 feet, and unlike the company's earlier ReSpeaker 2-Mic Pi HAT for Raspberry Pi the on-board XMOS XU316 provides local speech processing capabilities.
For those looking for a quicker start for their project, Seeed has also launched the ReSpeaker Voice Assistant Kit, which uses the same core hardware but in an all-in-one package — powered by a bundled XIAO ESP32S3 microcontroller board. Two variants are available: one with just the ReSpeaker Lite and XIAO, for those who already have a speaker and housing, and one that includes a 5W mono speaker and a laser-cut enclosure.
"Our team has prepared a series of wikis where you can download the firmware and flash it to the ReSpeaker Lite 2-Mic Array via DFU Util. Dive into the ReSpeaker Lite Voice Assistant Kit by exploring I2S Test, Streams Generator, CSV Converter, MP3 Player, Keyword Spotting, MQTT Audio Streaming, and more," Li says of the company's resources for the board. "Additionally, follow our wiki to build a Voice Assistant for Home Assistant via ESPHome using the ReSpeaker Lite Voice Assistant Kit, complete with custom wake words."
The ReSpeaker Lite is now available to order at $24.90; the ReSpeaker Voice Assistant Kit is priced at $29.90 with XIAO ESP32S3 or $36.90 with the speaker and enclosure. All prices exclude shipping and volume discounts — and the first 50 orders will receive a ten per cent discount, Li says.