 |
Rubber Mouth Robot Learns To Speak
This device is a robotic voice simulator created by scientists at the Department of Intelligent Mechanical Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University, Japan.
(Robotic Voice Simulator and the
Interactive Training for Hearing-Impaired People)
A talking and singing robot which adaptively learns the vocalization skill by means of an auditory feedback learning algorithm is being developed. The robot consists of motor-controlled vocal organs such as vocal cords, a vocal tract and a nasal cavity to generate a natural voice imitating a human vocalization. In this study, the robot is applied to the training system of speech articulation for the hearing-impaired, because the robot is able to reproduce their vocalization and to teach them how it is to be improved to generate clear speech...The talking robot mainly consists of an air pump, artificial vocal cords, a resonance tube, a nasal cavity, and a microphone connected to a sound analyzer, which, respectively, correspond to a lung, vocal cords, a vocal tract, a nasal cavity, and an audition of a human...
Vocal cords with two vibrating cords molded with silicone rubber with the softness of human mucous membrane were constructed in this study. Two-layered construction (a hard silicone is inside with the soft coating outside) gave the better resonance characteristics, and is employed in the robot [7]. The vibratory actions of the two cords are excited by the airflow led by the tube, and generate a source sound to be resonated in the vocal tract.
As I recall, the Terminators started out with rubber skin; I guess Skynet has to start somewhere.
From A Robotic Voice Simulator and the Interactive Training for Hearing-Impaired People via Popular Science.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/19/2010)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Medical Assistant Robot May Roam The Halls Of Hospitals
'Take care, sir.'
Amplified Nerves Lead To Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Hands
'The electrical impulses generated by your brain command everything...' - Martin Caidin, 1972.
FlyCroTug Micro Drones Do Heavy Lifting
'It extended three of its tiny arms sideways to lock on...' - James P. Hogan, 1979.
China Delivery Robot Development Quickens During COVID-2019 Outbreak
'Something very much like a camouflage-painted kangaroo.' - Bruce Sterling, 1994.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Another Soil Bacterium Eats Plastic
'...the plastic was dissolved before his eyes.'
reLive Memorial Come Back As A Tree
'It was time - time to go again. She touched the leaf. She was wanted.'
Engineered Living Building Materials
'... it was the cheapest building material known.'
Draw Circuits With Conductive Ink
'It's rewiring things... squeezing silver toothpaste in a ribbon along the printed circuitry.'
Arkangel: Automatic Visual Censoring
It's whatever the Party says it is, Winston.
NASA Competition To Design A Bucket Drum For Moon Mining
'There was a heap of discarded ore where Grantline had carted and dumped it...'
Medical Assistant Robot May Roam The Halls Of Hospitals
'Take care, sir.'
No Autonomous Trucks? Wait, What?
'...it resembled conventional human-operated transportation vehicles, but with one exception -- there was no driver's cabin.'
As Big As A Biltong - World's Largest 3D Printer
'Huge and old, it squatted in the center of the settlement park... On the concrete platform... lay a heap of originals to be duplicated.'
Drones Used To Smuggle Contraband Into Prison
'And some mega chip inside so it never runs into anything and no cop ever sees it.'
Are You Ready For Commercial Space Travel?
'It wasn't a pleasant trip; it was a miserable trip on a miserable, undersized tourist rocket...'
Amplified Nerves Lead To Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Hands
'The electrical impulses generated by your brain command everything...'
FlyCroTug Micro Drones Do Heavy Lifting
'It extended three of its tiny arms sideways to lock on...'
Virtual Whitney Houston In Concert
Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang
Robot Teaches Itself To Walk
'My whole idea is to get away from a machine with a set of prearranged instructions, and let them teach themselves by trial and error.'
DARPA's Subterranean Challenge
Let the machines explore the underground city!
