This 3D-Printed Raspberry Pi-Powered HAL 9000 is a Fully-Functional NAS and Alexa Smart Speaker
Housed in a 3D-printed casing and with a salvaged camera lens as a glowing "eye," this compact build is a NAS and smart speaker in one.
Pseudonymous maker "Cheat_Steve10" has built a Raspberry Pi-based Amazon Alexa smart speaker in the body of HAL 9000, the Heuristically-programmed Algorithmic computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
"[I] used a Raspberry Pi 3 [Model] B, a PAM 8403 amplifier, and some random USB microphone," Steve explains of the project, which is housed in a 3D-printed replica of HAL 9000's chassis from the film. "Running standard Rasbian [Raspberry Pi OS Linux] with Alexa sample app and Samba."
Just as in the film, the desktop HAL offers a cheery - and eerie - red glow from a central lens, in this case salvaged from a damaged film camera and fitted with a red LED to the rear. "The thing is the way the lens is set up it always looks like he's watching you," Steve notes. "That's why I made a cap for the lens."
The device serves a dual purpose: With a speaker and microphone, it acts as a functional Alexa-powered smart assistant; it also acts as a network-attached storage (NAS) system, serving files on an external hard drive and streaming music via the My Media Amazon Alexa skill.
More details are available on Steve's Reddit thread.
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