New Say It Voice Recognition Module!

Tim-M

Parallax has released a new voice recognition module... I can't believe there is no discussion about it yet.

http://www.parallax.com/Store/Accessories/Communication/tabid/161/ProductID/589/List/1/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName

Looks like a really cool third-party product and a great addition to the Parallax line up!

Tim

SRLM

I thought it was funny that the documentation says "Do not solely rely on the Say It module to recognize a command for a safety stop if your project requires one; take all appropriate precautions when implementing this module to maintain a safe project.", but one of the keywords is "Attack"!

Anyway, looks like another nice module to add to the inventory.

HollyMinkowski

Now that thing looks like fun!
A bit pricey, but think of the things you could do.
Must have one


Look where they squirted a blob of epoxy over a chip to hide it.
We do that sometimes here as well, sometimes we grind off the
writing on the chip.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep in -

Agent420

I think it's based on one of the Sensory speech chips as used in the VR stamps, but probably pre-programmed for easy interfacing.· These chips also have the ability to create speech as well -·it would be nice to have both features, but it looks like that is more·complicated and perhaps why they limited it to speech recognition.


▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

Conspiracy theory time....


That blob of epoxy is hiding a Propeller? Is that little 8-legged chip an EEPROM?

OBC

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.

Whit

Oldbitcollector said...
Conspiracy theory time....

The blob of epoxy hides an alien chip that was removed from my neck after my abduction.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Whit+


"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Agent420

Oldbitcollector said...
Conspiracy theory time....


That blob of epoxy is hiding a Propeller? Is that little 8-legged chip an EEPROM?

OBC

Doubt it.· The big chip is just flash memory, so the epoxied die has to be the VR chip - probably that RSC 2148

Most times the epoxy is there to encase the die which would be otherwise exposed to the elements, not obfuscation.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔


Post Edited (Agent420) : 8/21/2009 3:31:34 PM GMT

Tim-M

According to Google, the exposed SST 39VF040 I.C. is flash memory. My guess is that the epoxy covered die is the actual VR portion of the module.

Tim

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

The blob of epoxy is there to protect what's called a "chip on board" semiconductor. It's not meant to hide anything.

-Phil

mctrivia

Wish I could do cob. Bga some times is to big and cob is much cheaper.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5

Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.

Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.

xanatos

DOOOOD!!!!! Only reason no discussion so far is that this is the first I heard of it! I was seriously thinking about shelling out the $500+ to get the VR Stamp dev kit - this ROCKS! Where's that credit card......

Thanks for posting this!

Dave

CounterRotatingProps

Phil> The blob of epoxy is there to protect what's called a "chip on board" semiconductor. It's not meant to hide anything.

Whit> The blob of epoxy hides an alien chip that was removed from my neck after my abduction

Sorry, Phil, but I'm gonna have to go with Whit on that explainer.

Just don't Speak "WHIT" into the device, or the Ships will land in your backyard.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I don't think our explanations are at all contradictory. Even alien chips need to be protected from moisture and oxidation!

-Phil

CounterRotatingProps

Oh, right! I hadn't thought of that [noparse]:)[/noparse])

Now for real conspiracy theory, why on Earth would Parallax use Alien chips ?

Whit, you feeling better ?

" E.T. Phone Home ? "

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔

SRLM

CRP said...
why on Earth would Parallax use Alien chips

I think Parallax messed up. I could have sworn that Ken was bragging about "keeping jobs at home", but here he goes and outsources a chip to an alien race. That's why our economy is failing! [noparse]:)[/noparse]

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Kent Brockman said...
I, for one, welcome our new chip-producing alien overlords.

RiJoRi

SRLM said...
I thought it was funny that the documentation says "Do not solely rely on the Say It module to recognize a command for a safety stop if your project requires one; ...

YAS (Yet Another Story) -- I was working with a voice recognition setup on my Radio Shack Color Computer 2 way back when. It was called "EARS", FWIW. Being an eager young lad, I ran the program and had it memorize a slew of commands so that I could do verbal programming. I finally wound it up at oh-dark-thirty. When I got up the next morning, NONE of my commands worked! I finally realized that I was really tired the night before, so the overtones of my voice were all flattened, and the system just could not recognize my lively A.M. voice!

That could be one reason: people in a panic sound WAY different from calm people. Another reason could be that in an emergency there could be a LOT of background noise confusing the Say It module.

--Rich

Chris Savage

@Phil - LOL!!! A simpsons fan I see. <bows>

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering

Tim-M

PARALLAX...

Any particular reason why you went with an on-board microphone rather than the pig-tail version as seen here:

http://www.tigal.com/product.asp?pid=1770

I think it could be nice to have the option.

Thanks,

Tim

Chris Savage

Tim,

This is a third party product designed outside of Parallax. As far as I know we did not define the specifications or drive any part of the design. Take care.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Chris Savage

Parallax Engineering
50 72 6F 6A 65 63 74 20 53 69 74 65
·

xanatos

I guess that answers the question I was about to pose - namely, any possibility the unit could be made available without the carrier board which is, AFAICT, just a breakout board for the mic & LED. Not a big deal to unsolder it, but if the option were available - and since my thing is embedded systems - I would buy the main-board only unit every time.

That said - my first one of these arrived merely moments ago (along with my first propeller demo board) - and I am like a kid on Christmas <replace with your own ethnic tradition's major holiday here> morning! My voice controlled home automation system is soon to be a reality!

Thanks Parallax!!!

Dave

Tim-M

Thanks Chris. I understand that it's third party, I was wondering about the Mic/LED carrier board difference as compared to the mfgr. web site. It was my guess that Parallax may have requested that change.

Xanatos, you summed it up exactly. I'd prefer to purchase without the carrier board as well and keep the Mic and/or the LED on a pig-tail, even if it's a short one.

Tim

SRLM

@xanatos and Tim-M

xantos said...
namely, any possibility the unit could be made available without the carrier board which is, AFAICT, just a breakout board for the mic & LED. Not a big deal to unsolder it, but if the option were available - and since my thing is embedded systems - I would buy the main-board only unit every time.

Did you read the first part? It's more than a breakout board, it's a whole system, including a COB.

Tim-M

SRLM,

You're right, it is a whole speech recognition system in one module... what's hard to see though, is that the module is piggybacked (soldered) onto a carrier board. That carrier board contains the microphone and status LED. As the SR module is supplied from the manufacturer, the mic and led are on pig-tail wires that plug into the module itself -- no carrier board.

For a better view, take a look at this Parallax marketing photo:
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0//Images/H3_SayIt.jpg

Also take a look at page 14 of the Say It manual:
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/prod/comm/30080-SayItModule-v1.1.pdf

You can see how the manufacturer supplies the module here:
http://micono.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/07/15/vrbot1.jpg
(The mfgr. web site does not come up right now, so this is a Google image search result of the same photo.)

I was interested in the reason for Parallax supplying the module on a carrier board - my concerns are for vibration being transmitted to the microphone through the hard mount to the carrier board. This may degrade the recognition performance. Notice that the mfgr. supplies the mic with a foam surround.

Like Xanatos, my thing is embedded systems too and both of us would buy the module only each time as a preference, that's all.

Tim

Agent420

Tim-M said...

You can see how the manufacturer supplies the module here:
http://micono.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/07/15/vrbot1.jpg
(The mfgr. web site does not come up right now, so this is a Google image search result of the same photo.)

Conspiracy theory - you weren't meant to see that, and it has been addressed·;-)

I'm guessing the carrier board was designed to make it as easy·as possible for breadboarders and the like.· Although you would think that any finished project would need the mic element mounted somewhere to the case by itself rather than requiring this module be placed to accommodate that.· I'd probably just strip the carrier board or investigate obtaining the original module if quantity was an issue.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I don't see what the big deal is about the mic. If you don't want it attached to the carrier board, just unsolder it and reattach it with a length of shielded cable. Problem solved.

-Phil

Tim-M

Hi Phil,

The mic is not a big deal to me. As you said, it's not tough to make your own shielded pig-tail. The discussion started from a curious question after seeing how the OEM had offered the product, that's all.

Tim

xanatos

Mic's not the issue - the module has two separate PC boards, stacked on on top of another. The bottom PC Board is just a carrier board for the top (logic) containing board. The bottom board only has the mic, LED and the breadboard pins. For those of us who do embedded systems, if we ever want to use these boards on a live project, we will need to unsolder the bottom board from the top (13 tiny connections) to do so. An admittedly simple, but time consuming, step, especially since it is likely that for a custom design for a client it is likely that I will have to repeat the process 10+ times at least. Hence our interest in the potential for an "un-carriered" logic-only board. It's not just a matter of detatching the mic - it's a whole second board.

But I'm just happy Parallax got it available for us anyway... I was going to send my hard-earned cash to Sensory, Inc for their dev kit, and I can buy almost 9 of the Parallax unit for the cost of one dev system from Sensory!

Dave

Microcontrolled

If you want Simple Password-type speech recognition where it memorizes one word and detects when only you say it, try my Propeller speech recognizer. It is a lot cheaper if that is the thing that you want it for. It works with a simple Demoboard mic setup, there is a download in the Propeller forum. Of the thread, it is on page 1 or 2 I think.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Computers are microcontrolled.

Robots are microcontrolled.
I am microcontrolled.

But you·can·call me micro.

If it's not Parallax then don't even bother.

I have changed my avatar so that I will no longer be confused with others who use generic avatars (and I'm more of a Prop head then a BS2 nut, anyway)

Tim-M

Thanks for that Microcontrolled... I've been following your SR Propeller thread with great interest. Your work there looks promising and it would be great to do perform SR on a Prop core.

Tim

xanatos

I've been reading through the prop SR discussion, admittedly however it is currently wayyyy above my head as I have only been working with the prop about a week now (I originally started with Stamps, and when I started designing things that were stretching the stamp to the limit, I decided to buy a prop demo bd and jump in!). My app for the SR initially is a home automation system, so I need mucho words. And if I have to do SD recognition (as opposed to SI) then I need two sets of words so both of the people in my household can control the functions. My current count requires at least 28 words to be recognized. That said, from what I've read on the prop SR thread, and what I know about the capabilities of the prop, I would not be surprised in the least to see a robust SR object in the OBEX in a year or two!

Dave