I think this is primarily the fault of the mechanism that handles the... beak(?) movement. I believe opening and closing is a continuous loop on reduced gear motor. Getting that to synchronize is difficult, especially as the echo just hands you back an mp3.
Is there a product like this just for kids: a furry, friendly, interactive, mobile, voice-based connection to the internet? It could be an early learning tool (and source of great annoyance and surprise hilarity). Kids could learn to make apps for their wrapped Alexa, apps that help them help themselves and their friends, parents, etc...
[I am now imagining the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" where all tribbles are Alexa wrappers... X_x save me!]
In the case of the iPad they get to say they’re not targeting kids specifically and the rest is on the parent, but oh god yes I agree with the point you’re making.
I can understand the SDK being free, it would seem strange to me that a commercial product could actually plug in to the service for free, and without limits.
Ultimately, the service enables people to order from Amazon and gathers training data for their algorithms, so regardless of whether you're using it through an Echo or a Furby or whatever else, they win.
To put it bluntly, why would they stop others from making their profitable data collection easier and doing it for them?
I'd not be that surprised, if when you build with it it has the same kind of features as an echo. Wanting to play music means you are more likely to get amazon music prime, or pay for song storage. Ordering directly and making shopping lists pushes you towards amazon.
It may be cheaper for them than the affiliate scheme.
I wonder if the finished product is smart enough to distinguish between Alexa "speaking" and playing audio. It would be really annoying to constantly hear those gears moving while listening to music.
On the other hand, I'd love to code the pi to randomly make the eyes blink and move on occasion.
I'm interested in how the author got the sound working. I would have thought that external usb dacs would work just fine, as they seem to be plug and play compatible with just about everything, but apparently that isn't the case. Could somebody elaborate?
Wishful thinking. It's chip-on-board technology, which lowers the cost of the final product. In the toy business, every penny counts.
Anyone can decap a chip package these days, the COB resin is not any more secure.
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-chip-on-boards-are-...
http://www.ue.com.hk/index.php/Saving_Cost_-_Bare_Die_Assemb...