Devlog #1: Hours of ASH Development 🔥
Date: July 02, 2026
Hey everyone! Today I went all in on ASH — my offline Python voice assistant with the cute animated robot face.
What I accomplished :
Complete project structure setup in C:\ASH
Designed and generated 6 custom animated GIFs for the robot face using a mix of Visor Bot + Retro TV + Diamond Bot style (wide visor eye, CRT scanlines, antennas, diamond cuts). Now Ash has smooth transitions between: idle, wakeword, listening, thinking, speaking, sleeping.
Built the full Tkinter GUI — floating semi-transparent window that automatically moves away when your mouse gets close.
Implemented hotkey system using Copilot key:
Single press → Ash listens
Double press → Minimize to system tray
Alt + Copilot → Switch between Offline and Online mode
Integrated Faster-Whisper (offline STT) + fallback options
Added pyttsx3 + Windows TTS fallback so Ash actually speaks through speakers
Added many real commands: time, screenshot, battery, volume, brightness, open folders/apps, etc.
Added openwakeword support for hands-free “Hey Ash” detection
Fixed major bugs: mic sensitivity, GPU/CPU fallback, Ollama auto-start, window positioning
Set up auto-start with Windows + system tray icon
Cleaned up code, added proper error handling, and optimized for my Lenovo LOQ (Ryzen 7 + RTX 3050A)
Ash is now actually usable! She looks alive, reacts to voice, speaks back, and feels like a real personal assistant.
Challenges Faced:
CUDA DLL errors → forced CPU mode for stability
PATH issues with Python/Ollama → documented full setup
TTS not playing → fixed with fallback
Window too big and annoying → made it small + mouse avoidance
Next Goals:
Add more commands (timer, media control, clipboard, weather, etc.)
Improve wake word accuracy
Make the animation even smoother
Create a proper installer
This was a super productive day. ASH is starting to feel exactly like the loyal robot companion I imagined — always in the corner, calling me “Sire”, and ready to help.
GitHub: https://github.com/AMBUSH-43/ASH
What do you think? Any feature suggestions?
