Porcupine by Picovoice.ai [1] is a commercial wake-word engine with some open components licensed under Apache 2.0. The open-source parts change from version to version but usually include a SDK to integrate the engine and a number of wake-words that can be used freely like "Computer", "Jarvis", "Alexa", "Hey Siri" etc..

When it was first released to the public in March 2018 it quickly became the go-to solution for open-source projects due to its high accuracy, low resource requirements and good platform support though the selection of free wake-words was pretty limited at that time (Picovoice, Alexa, Raspberry and some more "exotic" words [2]).

The most unique aspect of Porcupine is the ability to create new wake-words from just one line of text, no audio recording, no training data! [3]. Unfortunately this feature was only available (with some very limited exceptions) to commercial customers until Porcupine v2.0. Since v2.0 everyone can create their own wake-words via the Picovoice online console within the limited free-tier [4][5]. The drawback of version 2.0 is that the usage requires an API key and devices need to be activated by contacting the Picovoice server every now and then.

Features Summary Edit

  • Commercial product with a free tier and some open parts. Access key and online activation since v2.0 (December 2021).
  • At the time of writing (Jan. 2022) probably the best wake-word engine for open-source projects in terms of accuracy and platform support (empiric data, needs some real statistics).
  • Available on basically any platform and in any programming language from x86 to ARM, from PCs to microcontrollers, from Android to Raspberry Pi, from Python to Javascript (WASM support).
  • Popular wake-words available in free version (e.g. "Computer", "Jarvis", "Alexa" etc.). To avoid registration, access key management and online activation use Porcupine v1.9.
  • Everyone can create custom wake-words with one line of text via web console (v2.0).
  • Low resource consumption (works on Raspberry Pi Zero).

Links Edit