Portal-style smart speaker: GLaDOS controls the house and talks

Portal fanatic and DIY project creator Pham Binh shared his unusual creation on Hackster.io – a voice assistant inspired by the legendary GLaDOS from the Portal game series. This smart hub doesn’t just speak with the voice of a sarcastic AI, but also controls a smart home via Home Assistant. Best of all, you can build one of these systems for as little as $50 – if you already have the basic infrastructure in place.

Of course, in the spirit of Portal, there’s no shortage of potatoes. Binh jokingly notes that you could use a real potato as a “carrier,” but electronics aren’t too friendly to moisture, so the project uses a 3D-printed version. Fortunately, enthusiasts have already posted an exact model of the “potato GLaDOS” from Portal 2 – all that’s left is to print it out.

• Whisper from OpenAI handles voice commands;
• Gemini interprets requests and manages logic;
• Piper voices the responses with a voice that mimics the original GLaDOS;
• Home Assistant connects it all to a smart home system and controls the appliances;

In essence, the result is a full-fledged Portal-like AI assistant that can respond to commands, turn on lights, control the climate, and perform other household tasks. And the cost of the system is comparable to an inexpensive DIY kit based on a single-board computer.

The project is a prime example of how affordable technology can be used to turn a video game fantasy into a reality. If you’re inspired by this approach, you can start with something similar: enthusiasts have long been turning Raspberry Pi and other boards into full-fledged smart home hubs. Admittedly, most of them don’t sound like sinister AI from a science lab.