LOVE BIRDS

Send and receive voice messages using Raspberry PI Zero and Telegram

What is Love (birds)?

It’s a standalone device to receive send voice messages with one person: lover, family or friend. Open the box, push on the button while you talk, release to send. Your correspondent will receive the voice message on his Telegram phone app or on his own LoveBirds box with a nice motor move and bird song.

See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enLJgY6dZ9U

This is the method to install from scratch the Love Birds projects. If you want an easier installation method please follow the intructable here to just burn the prebuilt SD card:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Love-Birds-a-Box-to-Send-and-Receive-Telegram-Audi/ or here https://www.raspiaudio.com/lovebirds/

Ok so you want to go the hard way and rebuild it from scratch:

Architecture:

Wifi initialization: it uses a built-in Raspbian feature just edit a wpa_supplicant.conf file with your credential and copy it on /boot (fat32 volume that is accessible form any computer reading your SD card) put it back in your raspberry PI and reboot, you should be connected to your Wifi.

initTG.py ⇒ initialize the telegram connection, to send messages as the user. configuration is done using a web page managed by Flask that basicaly asks the user to give his Telegram phone number, the confirmation received by SMS, and the name of te correspondent (who you want to talk to).It is copying the PHONE and PEER.txt in some file used later by valentin.py

  . PEER.txt the input format is @JohnBlack
  
  . PHONE international format +33777792516
  
  . Sms configiration file 12345
  
  valentin.py ⇒ the application itself

Installation steps

-Start from a Raspbian Stretch Lite, and burn it on a SD card https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_lite_latest

Required packages:

  . telethon
  
      sudo apt-get install python3-pip
      
      sudo pip3 install telethon
      

  . sox
  
      sudo apt-get install sox
      
  . vlc
  
      sudo apt-get vlc
      
   . GPIO
   
      sudo apt-get install python3-gpiozero
      
      sudo apt-get install python-rpi.gpio python3-rpi.gpio
      
    Flask
    
      sudo pip3 install flask

If you use the MIC+ sound card install it, otherwise skip this section. MIC+ it's a cool sound card has it has all in one 2 speakers, microphone and a button led. https://www.raspiaudio.com/raspiaudio-aiy

    sudo wget -O mic mic.raspiaudio.com
    
    sudo bash mic
    
  -Say yes for the reboot
  
  -On the next reboot you  have to run the test to finish the installation (it is an ALSA oddness):
  
    sudo wget -O test test.raspiaudio.com
    
    sudo bash test
    
  Push the onboard button, you should hear "Front Left" "front Right" then the recorded sequence by the microphone.

Start the programs on boot

Copy the content of this GIT of the directory /LB in /home/pi/LB to start the valentin program at startup : sudo cp /home/pi/LB/rc.local /etc boot the sytem and start a browser from any computer of your local network to complete the configuration of Telegram (see the instructable from that point.)