Kevin (formerly Bob)

Overview

Open-sourced Pi 5 assistant that starts with no device skills; you wire hardware (e.g. LED on GPIO 17) and tell it what you connected—it writes the skill, reads it back, and installs only after verbal confirmation.

What it does

• Starts with no device skills. You wire hardware and tell him, e.g. "I've connected an LED to GPIO 17. Make a skill that turns it on and off." He writes the skill, reads back what it will do, installs only after you say yes, tests it, and keeps it. [1]
• Talks with Google's Gemini Live voice (eight voices, web search). [1]
• Wake phrase "Hey Kevin" is recognised offline on the Pi by Vosk; nothing leaves the Pi until then. [1]
• Named timers, wake-up alarms that ring until stopped, internet radio and music from a folder. [1]
• Answers from free no-account services: rain next hour, UV, air quality, Wikipedia, definitions, currency, holidays, maths, units, recipes, the ISS, trivia. [1]
• Phone remote (/app) and a night-time StandBy clock (/standby); settings page at kevin.local:8080. [1]
• Updates himself from tagged GitHub releases daily and rolls back if a release fails to start. [1]

Things you can say or do

• "Will it rain in the next hour?" [1]
• "Remember the spare key is in the blue box" [1]
• "Set a pasta timer for 10 minutes" · "Wake me up at 7:30" · "Snooze" [1]
• "Play Radio Paradise" · "Next song" · "Quieter" [1]
• "What's 15% of 240?" · "Define serendipity" [1]
• "I've wired a button to GPIO 27, make a skill that tells me if it's pressed." [1]
• "Roll back the desk LED skill." · "Switch off the desk LED skill." [1]
• First, read-only: "Find what's on I2C", then "Install the example temperature skill" (BME280/BMP280) [1]

Use-case ideas

• Starter wiring projects with ready phrases: LED on GPIO 17, button on GPIO 27, relay module on GPIO 22, servo on GPIO 18, BME280 temperature sensor. [2]
• Bedside screen: an Arduino Nano + 16×2 LCD + joystick shows time, weather and timers, and its button talks to Kevin. [3]
• Hand hard questions to your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription. [4]
• Our suggestionA first electronics kit for a kid or classroom, where the assistant explains and builds each new part.

Parts and requirements

• RAM: Pi 5 4/8 GB recommended; 2 GB OK; Pi 4 2 GB+ works.
• OS: Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)
• Network: Ordinary home Wi-Fi (not hidden/enterprise) or Ethernet, with internet
• Computer for setup: Windows or Mac for the setup app, or any computer for the manual install
• Gemini API key (Google AI Studio): required, Free tier with usage limits; Google may use free-tier data [1]
• Claude Pro/Max or ChatGPT Plus/Pro: optional, Paid plan [4]
• Requirements source: [1]

Setup effort

Skill level

Beginner

Time

About 20–40 minutes: card write 10–20 min, first-boot install 10–20 min

Low with the setup app: fill in Wi-Fi, passwords and the Gemini key, write the card, boot. Manual: one curl | sudo bash install over SSH. [1]

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 5
• GPIO peripherals added by the user

More Raspberry Pi builds

Credits and links

• arancool3000: Creator
• License: MIT

• Releases (setup apps)  ↗

Sources

1. github.com/arancool3000/kevin-assistant
2. github.com/arancool3000/kevin-assistant/blob/main/docs/HARDWARE.md
3. github.com/arancool3000/kevin-assistant/blob/main/examples/bedside-screen/README.md
4. github.com/arancool3000/kevin-assistant/blob/main/docs/AI-ACCOUNTS.md
5. github.com/arancool3000/kevin-assistant/blob/main/docs/SKILLS.md
6. github.com/arancool3000/kevin-assistant/blob/main/docs/PRIVACY-SECURITY.md
7. github.com/arancool3000/kevin-assistant/blob/main/docs/WINDOWS-SETUP.md