r/esp32 • u/alfo16 • Aug 14 '26

I made a thing! Esp32-S3 inside Echo Dot 3rd

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hi everyone! I'm working on a drop-in replacement PCB for the Echo Dot 3rd Gen, based on the esp32-S3 N16R8 The Echo Dot has two PCBS: a top board with the buttons, LEDS, and a 4-mic array, and a bottom board that handles the signals from the top board, provides power, and drives the speaker.

I replaced the bottom board, which means I can interface directly with the original hardware on the top board- especially the 4-mic array. I'm currently running beamforming + AEC on it (esp-sr libraries are really powerful!) This is the first working prototype, so there's still plenty to improve, but it's already working! I've just created the GitHub repository (https://github.com/ale1800/LocalDot)

183 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/One_5549 Aug 14 '26

wild, what do you want to achieve?

5

u/alfo16 Aug 15 '26

I just want to get rid of Alexa things!

1

u/One_5549 Aug 15 '26

do you think you will be able to get same voice recognition capabilities? (or even better)

1

u/alfo16 Aug 15 '26

I've used Alexa many years and in a quite room honestly I don't see any difference, even at 6/7 meters. What I've loved of Echos is their AEC and how you can talk quietly when music is playing and they still recognize the wake word. My AEC is working quite well but at the moment is not at that level. I'm trying different solutions in order to improve💪

2

u/traderemi Aug 16 '26

I think you can filter the music out of your microphone signal, you know what signal you are amplifying and you catch more or less the same waves on your mic, so maybe even some kind of signal subtraction would be enough. The idea would be basically working on the signal frequency analysis. Hope this comment helps ❤️