Component Decisions

Some of the more consequential part choices, and what they were chosen over:

Decision	Chosen	Rejected	Why
Microphone	SPH0641 (PDM)	INMP441 (I2S)	INMP441 went end-of-life
Wake word (satellite)	microWakeWord	openWakeWord (ONNX)	openWakeWord needs a Google speech embedding model — too heavy for the ESP32
LED type (Rev. 3+)	SK6812-Mini-E	WS2812B	SK6812 is 3.3V-compatible, no level shifter needed
Processor	ESP32-S3	Original ESP32	S3 has an AI accelerator and enough PSRAM for TFLite
Satellite platform	Custom ESP32-S3 PCB	Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W	Focused, specialized design at low power (~0.1W vs ~1W) and small size — not primarily about per-unit price (a fully assembled satellite board runs ~50€)