A recent unwanted webOS update prompted developer Anubhav Malhotra to build custom TV software over a couple of weekends with help from four AI models. The result is R2D2, a local home screen, private remote browser, and push-to-talk voice assistant for webOS TVs.
A Linux compute host runs Chromium and voice models; the TV provides display, applications, and remote control. The code was written by ML models, but human decisions shaped key aspects: using WebRTC to reduce latency, repurposing vendor logic for buffering voice samples, and designing the user experience.
The project frees the TV from bloatware and makes it personalized. His daughter navigates TV through speech while he browses on the biggest screen at home.
Warning: TV components run as root and modify vendor system services on one specific firmware build. This is unsupported, may void warranties, and can leave the TV unusable until reboot or factory reset. Firmware SHA-256 pins and code offsets target one reference build—re-derive them for your own firmware.
Requirements include an aarch64 Linux host with Chromium, Pipe Wire, GStreamer, FFmpeg with hardware HEVC encoding, a CUDA-capable GPU, and Python 3.12. TV needs root access and a toolchain matching the exact firmware build. Both devices must be on the same LAN.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing