Artificial intelligence claims to be able to do many things. Translation is one that (mostly) works. Google’s Gemma Translator puts that function into a little offline device that promises to listen to (and translate) languages for you.
The search giant showed off the product, built with an outfit called Antigravity, yesterday. The coolest thing about it might not be that it’ll work entirely offline. It may be the fact that you can build your own version relatively easily.
Gemma squashed
Meet the Gemma Translator! A fully offline device powered by Gemma 4 E2B built with @Antigravity.
Running entirely on a Raspberry Pi 5 with a connected microphone and speaker, this highly portable prototype is housed inside a custom, 3D-printed case. pic.twitter.com/GhqlLC1RuE
— Google Gemma (@googlegemma) August 6, 2026
The Gemma Translator is Google’s Gemini model squeezed down into a physical shell. It’s backed by a Raspberry Pi mainboard, a speaker, a microphone, and a small digital display. It’s also fairly simple to make if you have these things. And the software required to get the translation model running, using Gemma-4 and LiteRT-LM.
The trickiest bit might be recreating the customised 3D-printed shell everything lives inside, but you could technically stuff it all in a cardboard box if you wanted. After that, you’re left with a translation device that should help you make yourself understood in regions without internet access. If you do have access, there’s little point to making one beyond the cool factor. Most modern Android devices will already supply this sort of thing via a remote AI connection.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to build one. The internet giant has posted the full instructions, plus the software needed for everything to work, over on GitHub. For free. If you’ve got a Raspberry Pi 5 (with 8GB of RAM), audio inputs and outputs, plus a small display, the hardware is relatively easy to assemble. For software, Python 3.10+ experience, a Linux or macOS system (plus Node.js 18+ or better), and the ability to follow instructions are recommended. For extra points, nab access to a 3D printer. The Gemma Translator could be yours by the end of the weekend.
