Talking Robots

[jts]

The title talking robots may be a little misleading. We're partnering with a local radio station in an effort to raise money for 2006. At various promotional events they would like to have people be able to ask the robot a question and have the robot be able to give them an answer. Obviously what we have in mind is not an automated system but more of walky-talky like setup where someone was sitting away from the robot and could give the answer.

I was wondering if anyone has tried this before with VOX 2-way radios or another system and what their experience with it was like. We haven't tried the two-way radios yet and are a little hesitant to do so because the questioner must stand a few feet from the robot, whereas 2-way radios are designed to be held a few inches from the face. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[sanddrag]

I'm not sure of the exact equipment behind it but when I was young a local fire department had your exact idea at the local mall. It was a fire hydrant that drove around a small portion of the mall saying hi to all the kids. Someone was hiding away listening to what people would say to it and then he'd dpeak into a microphone and what he said would come out a speaker in the hydrant. It worked superbly. People were so mystified as to how it could hold a conversation with them.

[Elgin Clock]

This lil' guy was talking to the folks in the lobby @ the regional in NYC in 2002, and then talked to Dean on the field during the closing ceremonies as well.



Photo courtesy Team 348

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

This lil' guy was talking to the folks in the lobby @ the regional in NYC in 2002, and then talked to Dean on the field during the closing ceremonies as well.

I remember that robot.
As I recall the operator was mixed into the crowd gathered around the robot, so he was close enough to hear conversations, but still be ignored in the crowd.
He replied by speaking into his lapel or a headset.

[mechanicalbrain]

Actually i used a mircophone on our robot. It was a micro RCA microphone (and a color camera) from www.supercircuits.com . It really works well. That isnt quite a good for speaking FROM the robot however. I took apart a robot voice changer a while back to see if i could use something like that. Make sure to hide the 2 way or it will take away from the effect.

[BillP]

Just a shot in the dark:

Try a cell phone that has a conference mode. You could put the cell phone on the robot with a hands free attachment and wire the speaker leads into a small amplifier with a speaker. The person who is doing the voice would be on another cell phone and able to hear the conversation close to the robot (by virtue of the conference feature), and could then respond. The "voice" of the robot would then come from the amplified speaker and be as loud as you want it to me.

[jts]

Originally Posted by BillP

Just a shot in the dark:

Try a cell phone that has a conference mode. You could put the cell phone on the robot with a hands free attachment and wire the speaker leads into a small amplifier with a speaker. The person who is doing the voice would be on another cell phone and able to hear the conversation close to the robot (by virtue of the conference feature), and could then respond. The "voice" of the robot would then come from the amplified speaker and be as loud as you want it to be.

I have thought of that. Unfortunately I do not have a phone with such a capability and it is unlikely that there are many floating around the team that we could use whenever we went out to do a promotion for the radio station. I've also thought about bluetooth technology, but have been unable to find any device small enough and inexpensive enough to put on a robot. I'm not exactly keen on strapping my powerbook to the frame.