With top-end hardware developers in a constant fight to create the most powerful AI processors on the market, there is still an adjacent Raspberry Pi scene that is producing a wide array of niche uses for the technology, and it doesn’t get much more niche than this. Someone over at Hackster has turned their Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W into somewhat of a bedtime storyteller. Yes, you heard us correctly. It appears the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W may be the key to a great night’s sleep, or at least the start of one.
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and bedtime stories
Produced by Stefano Mazzocchi on Hackster, this invention comes out of love for his daughter and technology. He did so by beaming data from an SBC to an external server using powerful AI processors. While Mazzochi tended to use LLMs, their unreliability and odd patterns became problematic causing him to try something new. The whole project cost around $50 and included a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a Seeed Studio ReSpeaker 2, and a speaker. In order to bedtime stories to be read, Mazzochi developed a program called Fably. The program uses LLMs to generate bedtime stories. By combining the two, he was able to have the device create brand-new bedtime stories off the bat. While the technology is prone to narrative flaws, it may be enough to send your kid to sleep.
“My daughter loves listening to stories being told to her and I’ve been intrigued by the evolution of large language models. These AI models have a “fabulism” problem: they tend to confidently make stuff up. This can be a problem when we use them as oracles, but what if we leaned into that? What if we make them tell stories to kids?”.
Stefano Mazzocchi – Hackster
Some drawbacks
Unfortunately for Mazzocchi, the Raspberry Pi with a speaker combo might not be the most aesthetically pleasing choice, especially if you need it by your bedside table. The speaker attached to the Raspberry Pi is quite the eye soar and will certainly put many off from considering it. With that being said, the beauty of the Rasberry Pi means you can change your design to a fun enclosure or 3D-print one with a kid-friendly theme. This way, your speaker becomes not just functional but visually appealing too.
