This Cardboard Box Can Tell You What It Sees

It wasn't that long ago that talking to computers was the preserve of movies and science fiction. Slowly, voice recognition improved, and these days it's getting to be pretty usable. The technology has moved beyond basic keywords, and can now parse sentences in natural language. The device is built around Google's AIY Voice Kit, which consists of a Raspberry Pi with some additional hardware and software to enable it to process voice queries. This allows WhatIsThat to respond to users asking questions by taking a photo, and then identifying what it sees in the frame.