There is still a long way to go until this becomes stable

Oct 28, 2015 15:00 GMT  ·  By

The Mycroft developers have been working to adapt the speech recognition system for the Linux desktop, and they have already taken the first steps.

Voice recognition was done before on Linux systems and even in Ubuntu, but the projects never really passed the first stages. In fact, Linux systems are still way behind what Microsoft and Apple are trying to do with their Cortana and Siri systems, but that might change once Mycroft is made available.

So, what is this Mycroft? It's a new project designed for home automation. It's based on a Raspberry Pi, and it's capable of playing media, controlling lights and switches, and pretty much anything else that is connected to the network. At least this is the theory. One of the components is the Mycroft AI or, better yet, the speech recognition system, which is quite advanced and precise, even if it only uses the processing power of a Raspberry Pi 2.

Mycroft for the desktop

It's only natural to imagine Mycroft running on the desktop or the phone. It would have much more processing power available, and it would fit just as well, not to mention that it would open up some pretty interesting avenues.

"During our Kickstarter campaign we pledged that if we reached out stretch goal of $125,000 we would be implementing Linux Desktop and Phone integration into the Mycroft project. We have begun that process in full force focusing on (Ubuntu) Unity 7, 8, and KDE. We have not yet had conversations with GNOME or any other desktop projects, but are open to those possibilities," noted the Mycroft lead, Ryan Sipes.

From what Ryan has shared until now, the developers have had some success with the initial integration, and it includes the actions mentioned below. These are just a few, and more will be implemented.

- Launch applications - “Hey Mycroft, launch Firefox.” - Open up websites - “Hey Mycroft, open up youtube.com” - Search Wikipedia - “Hey Mycroft, search Wikipedia for Sherlock.” - Early SMS integration (Ubuntu Phone) - “Hey Mycroft, tell Ryan ‘I’ll see you there.'” - Early Call integration (Ubuntu Phone) - “Hey Mycroft, call Ryan.”

It's still too early to get excited, but it's a real possibility that Mycroft will soon be a default implementation on all the major Linux distributions.