Orion, a small black device with a glowing star on its screen, standing on its desk stand

// A voice assistant you own

Hey, it’s yours.

A voice assistant on a thirty dollar board. It answers to you, and nobody else.

The device, part by part

  • Screen: 1.3 in · 240 × 240 · touch
  • Microphone: Listens for “Orion”
  • Push to talk: One press starts a turn
  • Speaker: MAX98357A amp · fires up
  • Camera: On the back · sees what is behind it
  • ESP32-S3: Wi-Fi · Bluetooth LE
  • Desk stand: Holds it at 12°

// Why Orion

Orion, the board in its printed case on the desk stand, its screen showing the star

Theirs, or yours

A smart speaker you rent: their account, their cloud, their model, and it answers to them.

Orion, an assistant you own: no account, no Orion cloud, no subscription. Your keys, entered once in your app. Your model, any OpenAI compatible one. The wake word runs on the board, and it answers to you.

// What it takes

$30 About, for the board

1 Double click to flash it

0 Orion accounts or subscriptions

2 Languages, English and Arabic

The parts are yours to choose.

Set once in the app. Change it any time.

01Speech to text

Hears

02The brain

Thinks

03The voice

Speaks

Your keys are stored on your board and in your app. Nowhere else.

Every line is on GitHub.

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 · Free for personal use

Read the code

// Voice

Just ask.

In English or Arabic. It answers out loud, in a voice made for it.

Pick one to hear it

// On the glass

قول أوريون، أو المس الشاشة

Say Orion, or touch the screen.

// This turnFirst word 2.4 s after your last
Wake word
Speech to text
The brain
Voice

Say it. Watch your PC do it.

Orion at the keyboard.

// The app

See it think.

The Orion app, for Windows and Android. Its orb mirrors the board, live.

Orion · idle

Quiet, ready

// Setup

Pair it once.

// Windows · Android

On your desk, and in your pocket.

Both apps mirror the board, live. One turn, two screens.

The Orion app on Windows: the side rail with Home, Talk, Camera, Conversation, Providers, Settings and Harness.
The Orion app on Android: the same home screen, with a bottom bar.

Voice by Fish Audio

// Inside the app

Nothing hidden.

What it sees. What it heard. What it wants to do, before it does it.

Camera: the live picture from the board's camera, with Ask about this, a shutter and Save.
01What Orion sees
Talk: hold to talk, or type a question. The turn in flight: how is my cpu doing, answered with CPU, RAM and GPU figures.
02Speak, or type
Conversation: each turn with what was said, the reply, and how long listening, thinking and speaking took.
03Every turn, timed
Providers: the brain on any OpenAI compatible endpoint, here DeepSeek V3.2 on DeepInfra, and the Fish Audio key for the voice.
04Your model, your key
Harness: Orion wants to run search_files for the invoice pdf and waits for Approve, Deny or Always allow this session.
05Ask me first
Settings: name, volume, wake word, mute, and the language, automatic between Arabic and English.
06Orion, tuned

// Flash

One double click.

A thirty dollar board becomes Orion.
No Python, no admin rights, no account.

Download for WindowsmacOS and Linux
The LilyGO T-CameraPlus-S3 board, front
01

Plug in

USB-C data cable

flash-orion.bat

 

02

Double click

flash-orion.bat

The LilyGO T-CameraPlus-S3 board, front
You“Orion”
03

Say “Orion”

Wake word on the board

// The real install

Sped up. Every line is from the installer.

Flash yours.

Download for WindowsSee the code on GitHub

flash-orion.bat · Windows 10 and 11 · No admin rights

macOS and Linux
$ bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MultiX0/orion/main/tools/install/flash-orion.sh)

You need·A LilyGO T-CameraPlus-S3·A USB-C cable that carries data·A Windows, macOS or Linux computer

// Tech specs

Every part,
on the table.

A thirty dollar board, a printed case and your own keys.

Orion taken apart: the rear shell, the speaker, the LilyGO board with its screen, the front bezel, the button plunger and the white inlays
  • Speaker
  • Rear shell
  • LilyGO T-Camera Plus S3
  • White inlays
  • Front bezel

// Hardware

Board

LilyGO T-Camera Plus S3

Version 1.2, about $30. Screen, camera, microphone and speaker socket, all on the one board.

Earlier revisions use different pins.

The LilyGO T-Camera Plus S3 from the back: the camera on its holder, the Audio socket for the speaker and the USB-C portPhoto by LilyGO

Chip

ESP32-S3, dual core

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE on the chip.

The wake word takes about 12 percent of one core.

16MB
Flash
8MB
PSRAM

Screen

1.3 inch touch screen, 240 × 240

An animated star for listening, thinking and speaking, with what you said and the answer beneath it.

  • ST7789
  • CST816
The board's screen while idleIdle
The board's screen while listeningListening
The board's screen while thinkingThinking
The board's screen while speakingSpeaking

Audio

A MEMS microphone and a speaker

The speaker runs through a MAX98357A amplifier.

In the case it sits in the crown and fires up, 50 mm from the microphone.

  • MP34DT05-A
  • MAX98357A
32kHz
Voice out
16kHz
Microphone

Camera

OV2640, on the back

It sees what you hold up behind Orion, never your face. Ask what it sees, or watch it live in the app.

CAMERAYOUSeen from the side

Connectivity

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE

Bluetooth is for setup. After that, Orion lives on your Wi-Fi.

USB-C for power and flashing.

2.4GHz
Wi-Fi band

Controls

Your voice, the screen and one button

Say “Orion”, tap the screen or press the button to talk. Tap while it talks to stop it. Long press the screen for the menu.

BOOT and RST on the side.

Case

3D printed, made for this board

Front bezel, rear shell, desk stand, button plunger and white inlays, with an optional dock. PLA or PETG, no supports.

STL and 3MF files are in the repo. Four M2 × 16 screws and four rubber feet finish it.

// Seek the Undiscovered36.4 MM46 MM110 MMFront
12°20.4 MM53 MM21 MMSide
Case
36.4 × 96 × 20.4 mm
On its stand
110 mm tall
Stand
46 × 53 × 21 mm
Lean
12° back

// Voice and brain

Wake word

“Orion”, trained for this project

It runs on the board. Nothing leaves your home until you say its name.

A small model that knows Orion and أوريون.

61KB
On the board

Languages

English and Arabic

It answers in the language you spoke, and sets Arabic right to left on the screen.

An Arabic answer on the board's screen, set right to leftOn the board

Speech to text

Fish Audio transcribe-1

Streamed while you talk, not uploaded after you stop.

Or DeepInfra, Groq, OpenAI or any OpenAI compatible endpoint.

0.4s
Typical, after your last word

Brain

Any OpenAI compatible model

By default on DeepInfra: Gemma 4 31B answers, and GLM 5.3 Flash handles the turns that act on your PC or phone.

OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, OpenRouter or Ollama on your own network work too.

Answers stream, so Orion starts talking before the reply is written.

Who answers, in order
  1. The PC appwhen PC control is on
  2. A linked phonewhile the app is running
  3. The board itselfcalling the model directly

Voice

Fish Audio S2.1 Pro, in Orion Voice

A voice designed for this project, streamed sentence by sentence.

Voice byFish Audiofish.audio

PC control

Your Windows PC, by voice

Open and close apps, play music, search the web, find files, read and click through any app, type, and run PowerShell.

Off, Ask me first, or Act on your own. Every action is logged.

On Android, the phone opens links and apps for it.

The tools it can call
  • open_app
  • close_app
  • focus_app
  • media
  • lock_pc
  • screenshot
  • search_files
  • open_link
  • system_stats
  • open_windows
  • ui_look
  • ui_act
  • press_keys
  • type_text
  • run_powershell
  • web_search
  • fetch_page
  • weather

Apps

Windows and Android

One Flutter app: setup, pairing, the orb, talk, camera, conversation, providers and settings. PC control lives in the Windows app.

// Setup and license

Pairing

Bluetooth and a six digit code

The board shows the code. The app sends your Wi-Fi and keys over the encrypted session.

Already on your network? Pair with a code over the LAN.

No Orion account. No Orion cloud.

Setup mode on the board's screen: the board's name and a six digit codeSetup mode

Flashing

One double click on Windows

flash-orion.bat finds the board, downloads esptool v5.4.0 and the latest firmware, checks the checksum and writes it. No Python needed, no admin rights.

flash-orion.sh on macOS and Linux.

License

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0

Every line is on GitHub. Build it, change it, share it.

Selling it, or building it into a commercial product, needs the author’s permission.

$0
For personal use

// What you need

Four things, one optional.

  1. 01

    LilyGO T-Camera Plus S3

    Version 1.2, about $30.

  2. 02

    A USB-C data cable

    One that carries data, not only charge.

  3. 03

    A 3D printer, or a print service

    For the case, which is optional.

  4. 04

    Your API keys

    Fish Audio for voice and hearing, and a language model. DeepInfra is the default.

No Orion account · No Orion cloud · No subscription to Orion

Say Orion.

Orion on its stand in the dark, the star lit on its screen

A thirty dollar board, one double click and your own keys.

Flash yoursView on GitHub
Download the app