You might say 2017 is the year of Assistant. ile ’s AI chatbot launched last year, it’s really come into form over the past few months, with an array of third-party actions, support for all Marshmallow Nougat phones, Android ar integration, most recently, the ability to access millions of recipes. But now it’s ready to take the biggest leap of all.

is opening up Assistant to developers with a new preview SDK, as it aims to greatly exp its presence beyond Android devices its Home speaker. As product Manager Ramsdale writes in a blog post, “th this SDK you can now start building your own hardware prototypes that include the Assistant, like a self-built robot or a voice-enabled smart mirror. This allows you to interact with the Assistant from any platform, not just Android.”

ke Home, the Assistant SDK allows developers to create products that are always listening for queries. en one is received (either by saying ”OK, ” or via an inetegrated button), it will be passed along to the Assistant service, which will reply with an audio response. Developers will also be able to see transcribed text, so devices can scan for certain keywords implement appropriate actions (like changing the lights based on mood).

Most importantly, is providing the full Assistant experience. So, if you ask a Assistant-integrated alarm clock for your upcoming calendar appointments, it will respond just like your phone or Home do. also provides the charming examples of “adding smarts to a toy robot to having your electronic potted plant talk back to you,” so it’s clear that it wants Assistant to take over everything.

The Assistant A uses a thon open-source gR A to hle authentication access to the A, samples, documentation. has provided step-by-step instructions for getting started along with a few sample projects, has also established a dedicated + developer community. However, notes that this is merely a developer preview there are more features in development, including hotword support companion app integration, it also plans to add commercialization capabilities, guidelines, technologies.

A-OK, : Assistant may be the newest AI chatbot on the block, but it’s rapidly becoming one of the best. And the new SDK could be the thing that takes it over the top. ile Apple Amazon have kept a short leash on Siri exa, respectively, third-party support could make Assistant a household name.