I was playing around with alternatives to power. It seems like there is no problem using a power bank to get the lights in the eyes to glow. But the only way to get the voice to work is to use a dedicated ac adapter. I even tried a usb-c to usb-c cord connection to my MagSafe powerbank and that failed to get the voice to operate.
Even get the ac adapter that are outlet/usb hybrids to work the voice is problematic. For what I have, the type with only one ac outlet and usb ports work at both 2.1a and 1a, but the type with two ac outlets, none of the usb ports work.