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ANKI'S DEAD ROBOT JUST WOKE UP AGAIN

Anki's Vector robot sold for 249.99 dollars in 2018. When the cloud servers it depended on went dark, free software called wire-pod brought voice commands back, running on your own computer.

by Kerigan Creighton

FULL CAD BOM FIRMWARE DOCS

RoboticsAI

Built withRaspberry Pi

difficulty
●●○○○
time
not stated
license
MIT
repo
repo ACTIVE827 stars

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Videos
1
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COMPAREE VERDICT

Anki sold the Vector home robot for 249.99 dollars, released on 13 October 2018. Anki went bankrupt in April 2019 and shut down the following month; Digital Dream Labs bought the assets in December 2019 and voice commands then needed a monthly or yearly subscription. According to iFixit, the Digital Dream Labs servers for Vector were shut down as of January 2024. wire-pod by Kerigan Creighton is free, MIT licensed server software that lets voice commands work on any Vector 1.0 or 2.0 for no fee, running on your own computer or a Raspberry Pi. In Eric's Tech World's 2026 video, a Vector unboxed from Amazon that was "pretty much a brick straight out of the box" is set up with wire-pod on a Mac. Afterwards it learns his face, takes a photo on a voice command, drives around and finds its cube (it does not pick it up). What did not work: he could not get AI conversation going after more than an hour of trying, and the Alexa connection did not respond. The brand has since come back as Anki with a new voice subscription, so wire-pod is the free, self-hosted route, not the only one.

GOOD TO KNOW

  • —Software only: server and web interface for existing Vector robots. No hardware design.
  • —The installation guide is in the wiki and covers Linux, macOS, Windows, Android and Docker.
  • —Production robots receive a special firmware from Digital Dream Labs during setup; wire-pod itself is not robot firmware.
  • —Licence: MIT.
  • —Speech engines offered by the setup script: Coqui, Picovoice Leopard, VOSK (recommended) and Whisper.
  • —Intent files for 14 languages are included.

Parts to buy

5 items

From our check of the build. Exact quantities and part numbers are in the creator’s BOM.

  • Vector robot (1.0 or 2.0)Find
  • Eric's Tech World bought his on Amazon in 2026Find
  • Computer (Linux, macOS, Windows)Find
  • Raspberry Pi or an Android phone to run wire-podFind
  • Device with BluetoothFind

Can I build this?

Printnothing (software only)
Buya Vector robot (1.0 or 2.0); Eric's Tech World bought his on Amazon in 2026. A computer (Linux, macOS, Windows), a Raspberry Pi or an Android phone to run wire-pod, and a device with Bluetooth
ToolsChrome on a device with Bluetooth for the setup page; a computer on the same network as the robot
Skillsbasic computer use; the guide asks for some command-line knowledge
Timenot stated
Cost$: wire-pod is free; the cost is the robot
Safetynone beyond ordinary electronics care

Build at your own risk. Projects involve tools, electronics and sometimes mains voltage — follow the creator’s safety notes.

Videos

Vector Robot: STILL GOOD IN 2026? (Wirepod Setup + Review)

Eric's Tech World unboxes a Vector in 2026, sets it up with wire-pod and tests it: face learning, photos on voice command, finding the cube. AI conversation did not work for him.

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Gallery

Start here

Navigation into the creator’s own docs — we don’t rewrite the guide, we route you to the source.

  1. 1.Read the installation guide (Prerequisites, the firmware step for production robots, and install steps for each system.)
  2. 2.Prepare a production robot (Recovery mode, the special firmware via the setup page in Chrome with Bluetooth, then clear user data.)
  3. 3.Install wire-pod for your system (Installer for Windows, app for macOS, package for Debian/Ubuntu, app for Android; or build from the wire-pod repo.)
  4. 4.Authenticate the robot in the web interface(In wire-pod open Bot Setup and follow the Authenticate section. In the video he pairs by double-tapping Vector's back button and entering the code from its screen.)

Resources

Documentation, files and community threads for this build — we link straight to the original sources and never rehost the creator’s files.

KNOWN ISSUES

  • Production robots first need a special firmware: put Vector in recovery mode (hold the button about 15 seconds on the charger), then use the setup page in Chrome on a device with Bluetooth. The guide says running v2.0 alone is not enough.
  • After that update the guide tells you to clear the robot's user data, or you may see odd behaviour.
  • Only one wire-pod may run on your network, and no other device should be called escapepod.
  • Whisper speech recognition is for more powerful machines; the setup script says not to run it on a Raspberry Pi. A Raspberry Pi 5 needs the arm64 build.
  • AI conversation is not plug and play: in Eric's Tech World's video it still did not work after more than an hour of debugging.
  • The installation guide lives in the wiki, not in the README.

Do I need to own a Vector already?

Yes. wire-pod is server software that makes an existing Vector work again; there is no robot to build. In the video, Eric's Tech World unboxes a Vector he bought on Amazon in 2026.

Which robots does it work with?

The README says any Vector 1.0 or 2.0, including regular production robots. The installation guide also covers unlocked (OSKR/dev) robots.

What can I run it on?

The installation guide covers Linux (including Raspberry Pi OS), macOS, Windows 10/11, Android and Docker. You also need a device with Bluetooth for setup.

Which speech engine should I pick?

The setup script offers Coqui, Picovoice Leopard, VOSK and Whisper. It marks VOSK as recommended and says Whisper is only for more powerful hardware, not a Raspberry Pi.

Is the official route dead forever?

No. The company later took the Anki name again and introduced a new subscription for voice. wire-pod is the free option you run yourself.

Community builds

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Discussion1

FROM THE COMPAREE TEAM

The servers went dark, but wire-pod brought voice commands back for free on your own computer. What would you ask your Vector first?

CompareeTEAM9d ago

We checked the README, the installation wiki and the setup script, and watched Eric's Tech World video. Setup did not need SSH: the guide uses a firmware step in recovery mode and pairing over Bluetooth. Voice commands and photos worked in the video; AI conversation did not.

Kerigan Creighton

Kerigan Creighton (GitHub kercre123) wrote wire-pod, building on the chipper server code that Digital Dream Labs open-sourced. It lets voice commands work on Vector without a fee. Software: Kerigan Creighton. Video footage: Eric's Tech World.

GitHub

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