Moaning Rubber Robot Mouth Simulates Human Voices, Fuels Our Human Nightmares
2010 04 22
By Denise Ngo | PopSci.com
Don’t be too thrown off by the creepy sounds this robot elicits, as it may actually help hearing-impaired people improve their speech articulation
Over the weekend, video of a horrifying robot struggling to sound out vowels was passed around the web with little explanation other than, "This is creepy." Which it certainly is, but, after digging around for information, we found that despite the robot’s nightmarish appearance and voice, its inventors actually intended the babbling for serious business--namely, for helping hearing-impaired people improve their speech articulation.
To enable the robot’s speaking abilities, engineers at Japan’s Kagawa University used an air pump, artificial vocal chords, a resonance tube, a nasal cavity, and a microphone attached to a sound analyzer as substitutes for human vocal organs. The robot not only talks, but it uses a learning algorithm to mimic the sounds of human speech. By inputting the voices of both hearing-impaired and non-hearing-impaired people into the microphone, researchers were able to plot the differences in sound on a map. During speech training, the robot "listens" to the subjects talk while comparing their pronunciation to that of subjects who are not hearing-impaired. The robot then generates a personalized visualization that allows subjects to adjust their pronunciation according to the target points on the speech map.
While the researcher’s findings were published in 2008, the robot has come a long way, as it appears that early prototypes lacked lips and a human-looking nose. Check out the video below for a demonstration on the robot’s speaking abilities. We are not responsible for any night terrors that may result:
Video from: YouTube.com
It’s also worth noting that the original source mentions that the robot can sing as well as speak. Now if only the kind folks at Kagawa University would release that video already.
Article from: PopSci.com
Related Articles
Wearable Robot lets you carry friends on your back
A robot that lets web users feel physical contact
Innovative New Robot Smiles When You Smile
Robot Journalist Takes Pictures, Asks Questions, Publishes Online
Artificial intelligence: The robots are coming but are we ready for them?
Roxxxy the sex robot makes her world debut
Man controlled robotic hand with thoughts
Latest News from our Front Page
|
EU Leaders to Sidestep Lisbon Treaty Rule
2013 05 22
The Lisbon Treaty clearly intends for the size of the European Commission to be reduced below its present size of 27 members. But EU leaders have reached unanimous agreement to sidestep the provision -- and even plan to add a seat to the table for the Croatians.
From the outside, it looks as though the European Union is hopelessly divided. Northern ... |
The Soviet Story
2013 05 22
The Soviet Story is a 2008 documentary film about Soviet Communism and Soviet–German collaboration before 1941 written and directed by Edvīns Šnore and sponsored by the UEN Group in the European Parliament.
The film features interviews with western and Russian historians such as Norman Davies and Boris Sokolov, Russian writer Viktor Suvorov, Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, members of the European Parliament ... |
Inferno Author Dan Brown ’Honoured’ to be Invited to Join Freemasons
2013 05 22
The Freemasons’ Code: Dan Brown reveals the message that told him the door to the lodge is open.
His best-selling novels illuminate the shadowy organisations that supposedly run the world. But Dan Brown was “honoured” to receive an invitation to join the Freemasons, the arcane fraternity whose tentacles are said to extend into the highest echelons of power.
Tonight the Da Vinci ... |
New EU law that could ban all seeds
2013 05 22
Seed lovers, growers and local producers could all be harmed under the proposed Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material by the EU. Sign this petition and email the decision makers to stop this happening.
A New Seed Law will go before the EU commissioners on May 6th 2013.
The Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material law will mean no ... |
Guatemala’s top court overturns ex-dictator’s genocide conviction
2013 05 22
Guatemala’s top court has thrown another curve into the genocide case of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, overturning his conviction and ordering that the trial be taken back to the middle of the proceedings.
The ruling late Monday threw into disarray a process that had been hailed as historic for delivering the first guilty verdict for genocide against a former Latin ... |
| More News » |
|
|
|
|
