Mycroft's World Tour

Originally published at: http://mycroft.ai/blog/mycrofts-world-tour/
Mycroft is going global. Next week our CEO, Joshua Montgomery, is beginning a series of talks around international language support and community building. The first meetings will be held in Reykjavik , Amsterdam , and Vienna . If you live in those cities, get in touch! We would love help in coordinating event locations and recruiting community members to get excited about Mycroft.

A diverse and international community is invaluable to a voice assistant. Just by using Mycroft and Opting-In, we gain various accents to improve Wake Word spotting and STT. Exposing the technology to more people worldwide builds a base who can translate Mycroft into their local languages.

Mycroft’s next considered stops are Berlin , Paris , Madrid , Lisbon , and Barcelona . If you live in or near those cities and can help arrange an event, spread the word, or just want to know when plans finalize, please fill out the form or reach out to us at hello@mycroft.ai.

Scheduled events:

Berlin

September 12, 7:30 PM – International Language - RSVP

September 12, 5 PM – Startup Fundraising - RSVP

Paris

September 18, 7 PM – International Language - RSVP

September 19, 7 PM – Startup Fundraising - RSVP

Tentative event dates:

Madrid

October 4, 7:30 PM – International Language

October 4, 5 PM – Startup Fundraising

Lisbon

October 18, 7:30 PM – International Language

October 18, 5 PM – Startup Fundraising

Past events:

Reykjavik - August 8, August 9 - Recap

Vienna - August 12, August 13 - Recap

Amsterdam - August 29 - Recap Soon!

Please check back for locations and more information.

How Mycroft Learns a New Language

We’ve published a blog on everything that’s needed to make a voice assistant speak a new language. The last post was a high-level and technical overview. We’ve got some updates now:

  • We’re putting the finishing touches on a translation suite that will let skills and dialogue be translated from one language to another.
  • For STT, voice.mozilla.org is now collecting recordings in 15 languages and localizing for another 20.
  • For TTS, our Mimic suite for collecting recordings and training a voice is coming soon.

To make use of these systems for internationalization, we benefit from recruiting contributors for translation, voice recording, and coordinating local tech communities excited about voice.

Introductions to groups are also appreciated. We would love to work with local companies who could use a voice assistant who speaks the local language, and any educational institutions and governments with interest in preserving and utilizing the local language.

In addition to the events for local language support, Joshua will be presenting on early-stage startup fundraising. If you or someone you know would like to learn how we’ve used crowdfunding to build Mycroft from an idea in a makerspace to an international company building a large open source voice project, let us know.

Help Mycroft Go Global!

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