9. Play and record sounds

Make some noise - Use the audio API

You can choose to follow our online documentation or to make your Reachy move by following the notebook n°7.

Audio presentation #

Reachy 2 is equipped with:

• 🎤 Two microphones, one in each antenna.
• 🔈 One speaker, located in the torso.

The Audio API allows you to:

• Upload and manage sound files.
• Play and stop audio.
• Record using the microphones.

⚠️ Note: Audio files are stored in a temporary folder on Reachy’s internal computer and are deleted at each reboot. There’s no persistent storage yet. The file management is very basic, allowing just a list of files in a single folder.

File Management #

Before doing anything with audio, make sure you’re connected to Reachy as usual:

from reachy2_sdk import ReachySDK

reachy = ReachySDK(host='your-reachy-ip')  # Replace with your robot’s IP

List available audio files #

Let’s start by listing the available audio files on the robot:

reachy.audio.get_audio_files()

If you’ve just started working with Reachy, this list might be empty.

Upload an audio file #

Reachy supports .wav, .mp3, and .ogg files. To upload a sound from your computer:

reachy.audio.upload_audio_file('/path/to/sample-1.ogg')
reachy.audio.upload_audio_file('/path/to/sample-2.wav')

After uploading, you should see them listed:

reachy.audio.get_audio_files()

Remove an audio file #

Don’t need a sound anymore? You can delete it like this:

reachy.audio.remove_audio_file('sample-2.wav')
reachy.audio.get_audio_files()

This will remove it from Reachy’s internal audio folder.

Playing audio on Reachy #

Play an uploaded file #

Once your file is uploaded, you can play it through Reachy’s speaker:

reachy.audio.play_audio_file('sample-1.ogg')

Stop playback #

If you need to stop the audio mid-play:

reachy.audio.stop_playing()

This will immediately cut off the sound.

Recording audio with Reachy’s microphones #

Recording is just as simple! You can have Reachy record from its stereo microphones.

⚠️ Note: For now, only .ogg format is supported when recording.

Record audio #

To start a 5-second clip recording in the background, with the file name tutorial:

reachy.audio.record_audio('tutorial.ogg', duration_secs=5)

The duration of the recording, in seconds, must be set.
The file will be stored on Reachy.

You can stop a recording early:

reachy.audio.stop_recording()

Access or play back the recorded audio #

Once recorded, the file is available in the same temporary audio folder:

reachy.audio.get_audio_files()
reachy.audio.play_audio_file('tutorial.ogg')

Download the recording to your computer #

If you want to save your recording:

reachy.audio.download_audio_file('tutorial.ogg', '/your/local/path/tutorial.ogg')

This copies the file from Reachy’s system to your local machine, at the given path.

You can now chain audio playback with gestures or head motions for expressive sequences!

And…

🎉 Congratulations!
You now know all the basics of Reachy’s SDK—movement, perception, audio, and more.

Now it’s time to level up.
Let’s move on to implementing complex behaviors in the Advanced tutorials! 🚀🤖