Chatbot Zero - AI on Raspberry Pi zero

Description

This is a pocket-sized AI chatbot device built using a Raspberry Pi Zero 2w. Just press the button, speak, and it talks back like a futuristic walkie-talkie with a mind of its own. Built-in screen, RGB led, microphone & speaker. Push-to-talk button. Fully portable and USB rechargeable. AI responses generated using OpenAI’s API or other cloud services, configurable. A TypeScript server handles the logic and message flow on RPI, and it's extendable: run your own tools or scripts in response to AI commands.

Details

Subsequent Goals:

* ✅ [Hardware] Use mouse buttons instead to improve button comfort
* ✅ [Hardware] Optimize the HAT and enclosure structure, with the speaker outlet facing upward
* ✅ [Hardware] PCB layout redesign and logo for the HAT
* [Hardware] Support RPI camera input
* ✅ [Software] Integrate the tool with the API
* ✅ [Software] Enable the AI assistant to adjust the volume autonomously
* ✅ [Software] Reset the conversation history if there is no speech for five minutes
* ✅ [Software] Support custom tools (open light demo)
* [Software] Support third party MCP server
* ✅ [Software] Support Local LLM (ollama)
* ✅ [Software] Support LLM Thinking
* [Software] Support ASR and TTS locally
* [Software] Support speaker identity recognition

Components

1 × Raspberry Pi zero 2w

1 × Whisplay HAT (released on Oct 9, 2025) 1.69inch LCD screen, wm8960 sound chip with on-board speaker and mic, RGB led, GPIO Button

1 × PiSugar 3 1200mAh, battery, UPS

1 × 3D resin printed enclosure

Project Logs

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Offline Version Tutorial (RPi 5B)
Jdaie • a day ago • 0 comments
Step by step tutorial
Jdaie • 10/15/2025 at 01:21 • 0 comments
Whisplay HAT is now available!
Jdaie • 10/09/2025 at 12:00 • 0 comments

I'm thrilled to share that the Whisplay HAT is available today!
Link: https://www.pisugar.com/products/whisplay-hat-for-pi-zero-2w-audio-display
Chat With Local Ollama
Jdaie • 08/16/2025 at 12:51 • 0 comments

The chatbot now support local ollama!
This demo uses the deepseek-r1:1.5b model to generate responses. Since this is a reasoning model, I added a "thinking" display in the chatbot UI. You can choose to turn off the "thinking," which makes the responses faster, but the quality may noticeably decrease.
I also tried running Ollama on the Zero2W with a smaller model, smollm2:135m-instruct-q4_K_S, but after answering just one question, the Zero2W became extremely sluggish — its limited hardware performance is the objective bottleneck.
Running LLM locally on RPI zero 2w
Jdaie • 08/04/2025 at 03:18 • 0 comments

I tried running Ollama on the Zero 2W, and the output speed was actually quite decent. I also ran a chatbot program at the same time — while it did slow things down a bit, it shows that the Zero 2W does have potential! That said, the core temperature quickly rose to 68°C, so it’s clearly struggling a bit.
Install ollama following this tutorial: https://github.com/Gilzone/Installing-a-LLM-on-Raspberry-Pi-Zero-2-W
Logo for Whisplay HAT
Jdaie • 07/20/2025 at 02:06 • 0 comments

Today I received the HAT printed with the Whisplay logo. The logo features a screen-faced robot with a cartoon expression that gives off a strong electronic vibe. Interestingly, its ears are actually speakers!
You can just the waitlist via the link below:
https://www.pisugar.com/pages/subscribe-whisplay-hat
switch to mouse button
Jdaie • 06/24/2025 at 02:33 • 0 comments

I want to make this device work like a walkie-talkie, where you press and hold the button to talk, so the button will be used quite frequently. That’s why I specifically chose this mouse button. It has excellent tactile feedback — you can easily press it with a light touch. But compared to a regular button, it’s definitely a big guy!

View all 7 project logs

Discussions

aaaaaa wrote 10/13/2025 at 14:16

I would like to use gemma 3n or similar 8B models offline.

Why I must put my voide and my data to corporation? Please make offline model. I no need audio

Are you sure? yes | no

Jdaie wrote 10/15/2025 at 01:23

You mean just the text-base LLM only? No need for audio recognition and synthesis?

Are you sure? yes | no

Chatbot Zero - AI on Raspberry Pi zero

Description

Details

Components

Project Logs

Collapse

Offline Version Tutorial (RPi 5B)

Step by step tutorial

Whisplay HAT is now available!

Chat With Local Ollama

Running LLM locally on RPI zero 2w

Logo for Whisplay HAT

switch to mouse button

Discussions

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Chatbot Zero - AI on Raspberry Pi zero

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