Reviving a 2017 AIY Voice Kit
Julien Béranger
+ Claude Opus 5.5
The kit
The kit is the first-generation AIY Voice Kit (V1) from Google, originally bundled with issue 57 of The MagPi in May 2017 and later sold at retail. The accompanying MagPi Essentials booklet, AIY Projects: Create a Voice Kit with your Raspberry Pi, was written by Lucy Hattersley.
It is built around the Voice HAT, an add-on board that sits on the GPIO header of a Raspberry Pi, plus a microphone board, a speaker, an arcade button and a cardboard case.
Short answer: the hardware is still usable, but the original Google Assistant software side is a dead end.
Which Raspberry Pi
| Model | Fits the HAT | Fits the cardboard box | Runs the old AIY image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 3 Model B | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raspberry Pi 4 / Raspberry Pi 5 | Yes | No, ports are arranged differently | No |
| Raspberry Pi Zero W | Yes | No | Reported to work |
The Pi 3 Model B or 3B+ is the best choice: the booklet and the cardboard frame both target it. A Pi 4 or Pi 5 is fine only if you are ready to configure the audio yourself on a current operating system and do without the box.
What still works, and what doesn't
Still working:
- The Voice HAT, microphone board, speaker and button are plain audio hardware.
- The community project Assistant-Pi runs the kit on a Pi 3 with the last official AIY system image, from April 2021. That image is based on Raspbian 10 Buster (now Raspberry Pi OS) with Python 3.7 and already includes the Voice HAT driver. It is long out of security support.
No longer working, or not to be relied on:
- The "OK Google" library the booklet relies on was deprecated in 2019.
- Google is retiring Assistant itself in favor of Gemini: removal from Android phones and connected devices began on September 4, 2026.
- Whether the Assistant SDK for devices still answers requests could not be confirmed.
What to run on it instead
Treat the kit as a good speaker, microphone and button for a Pi 3, and pair it with something current:
- Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, which the booklet already covers as an alternative to the Assistant.
- A fully local assistant, using the Home Assistant voice pipeline with Whisper for speech-to-text and Piper for text-to-speech, connected through the Wyoming protocol.
- A large language model API to generate the answers.
Buying a Pi 3 second hand
Places to look:
- eBay: the biggest selection; filter by "Used" and check seller ratings.
- Local classifieds: Facebook Marketplace, Leboncoin in France, Kleinanzeigen in Germany, Gumtree in the UK, Craigslist or OfferUp in the US, Marktplaats in the Netherlands.
- Vinted: many Pis show up there in Europe, often cheap.
- Reddit: r/hardwareswap for the US, plus the UK and EU equivalents.
- Refurbished shops such as Back Market or Amazon Renewed.
- Friends, a local makerspace or a Linux user group: plenty of Pi 3 boards sit unused in drawers.
Tips before paying:
- Compare with new. The 3B+ is still manufactured and sold by official resellers, listed on raspberrypi.com. Don't pay more used than a new one costs.
- Ask for a photo of the board booted, and check the GPIO pins (none bent) and the microSD slot.
- Bundles with power supply, case and SD card are better value.
- Either model works for this kit; take whichever is cheaper.
What else is needed
To run it:
- A microSD card, 8 GB minimum, 16 to 32 GB preferred.
- A 5V 2.5A power supply with a micro-USB plug. A weak phone charger causes crackly audio and random reboots.
- A computer with an SD card reader to flash the system image, for example with Raspberry Pi Imager.
- Wi-Fi, which is built into the Pi 3, or an Ethernet cable.
To assemble it, as listed in the booklet:
- Phillips 00 screwdriver
- Small needle-nose pliers
- Two-sided tape
For first setup:
- An HDMI monitor or TV with a standard HDMI cable
- A USB keyboard and mouse
These are only needed for the initial configuration; afterwards the Pi can be controlled over the network with SSH.
Depending on the software:
- A Google account with a Google Cloud project for the Cloud Speech route. It needs a billing card on file, though light use stays within the free tier.
- Nothing extra for a fully local setup.
Checking the kit is complete
After nine years in a drawer, the small parts are the ones that go missing. The box should contain:
- Voice HAT accessory board
- Voice HAT microphone board
- Two plastic standoffs
- Speaker, with wires attached
- Arcade button, with its lamp, lamp holder and micro-switch
- 4-wire button cable and 5-wire daughter board cable
- External cardboard box and internal cardboard frame