Newark element14, the Development Distributor, is shipping the MATRIX Voice from MATRIX Labs, enabling users, makers, and developers to create Internet of Things (IoT) applications based on sound driven behaviors, quickly and efficiently.

As the IoT continues to expand, the prospect of developing unique solutions should excite makers, engineers, and hobbyists. However, the process of successfully integrating artificial intelligence, hardware, and software to create a viable solution can be both expensive and time-consuming. The MATRIX Voice aims to lower the barriers to entry for the creation and deployment of IoT voice applications.

Powered by a Raspberry Pi computer or used as a standalone device with the ESP32, the MATRIX Voice specifically targets the development of voice recognition and detection projects, allowing users to utilize existing platforms such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, or any other voice recognition API. The platform gives users the ability to integrate custom voice and hardware-accelerated machine learning easily into their applications. Beamforming, noise cancellation, far-field speech recognition, and de-reverberation capabilities ensure high quality performance for all voice applications.

Hari Kalyanaraman, Global Head of Emerging Businesses for Premier Farnell and Newark element14 said: “As the Development Distributor, we strive to provide our customers with the very latest technology to help them as they bring their products to market. Platforms such as the MATRIX Voice give makers and entrepreneurs a real head start, enabling them to shrink their product development cycle and accelerate time to market.”

Rodolfo Saccoman, CEO and Co-Founder of MATRIX Labs said: “At MATRIX Labs, we aim to democratize the intersection between hardware, AI, and software. We have created hardware and accompanying operating systems to enable solutions, creations, and new companies to succeed. Instead of a company trying to build their own board, they can package our MATRIX Voice, manufacture any kind of casing, and then take their product to market- fast."

The MATRIX Voice board, at 3.14 inches in diameter, features a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA, 64 Mbit SDRAM, a 8 MEMS microphone array, and 18 LEDs among other features including an optional Wi-Fi attachment. 64 GPIO expansion pins—40 of which are used to connect to a Raspberry Pi—allow for additional customization.

MATRIX Voice is available from Newark element14 in North America and Farnell element14 in Europe.