hardware + ambient AI
Product
ChatterBox is a palm-sized desk companion with its own edge NPU for everyday chatter — and optional ChatterCloud when you need heavier thinking.
A box with a brain — not just a mic
Most “AI speakers” are thin clients. ChatterBox is different: everyday conversation runs on the box itself. Cloud is a boost, not a dependency.
What’s inside
- ChatterCore NPU — 12 TOPS edge accelerator for local speech + language
- Chatter-Local 1.8B — quantized on-device model (≈1.1 GB) for unlimited free chatter
- 4-mic array with beamforming + soft-limiter speaker
- Hardware mute switch — electrical cut, coral LED only when live
- USB-C charge / always-on desk power
- Companion app (iOS / Android) for setup, packs, cloud policy, firmware
Inference, clearly
| Layer | What runs · Who pays |
|---|---|
| Wake word | On-device only · Free forever |
| Everyday chatter | Chatter-Local 1.8B on ChatterCore NPU · Free unlimited |
| Hard reasoning / long context | ChatterCloud Boost (optional) · Metered subscription |
| Offline / airplane | Local stack only · Cloud features pause until online |
What “local” is good at
- Fast back-and-forth (target <250ms wake → listen start; short replies in ~1–2s)
- Personality packs, reminders, parking thoughts into the app inbox
- Summaries of recent desk conversation
- Works with the network unplugged
What Boost is for
- Multi-step plans, deep research-style answers, long-document digestion
- Code-heavy or math-heavy turns you explicitly escalate
- Higher-quality rewrite / “make this executive-ready” passes
You control escalation: Local only, Ask each time, or Boost when needed (default for Founding).
Hardware specs (founding edition)
| Size / weight | ~9 × 9 × 4.5 cm · ~210 g |
|---|---|
| SoC | Dual-core + ChatterCore 12 TOPS NPU |
| On-device model | Chatter-Local 1.8B (Q4), resident in flash |
| RAM / storage | 4 GB LPDDR · 32 GB eMMC (model + logs + packs) |
| Mics / speaker | 4-mic array · full-range with desk proximity limiter |
| Battery | Up to 18h mixed use · USB-C trickle supported |
| Connectivity | Wi‑Fi 6 + Bluetooth LE |
| Privacy | Hardware mute · on-device wake · cloud off by default |
| Colors | Ink Black (launch) · Sand (batch two) |
What it refuses to be
- A speaker that only streams podcasts
- A camera-first gimmick
- A device that dies when Wi‑Fi drops
- A mystery black box about “where the model lives”