It Speaks!

[Richard]

I have just got my RoboNova to talk!

I have used a SP03 Text to speech board connected to ETX (actually you need to use the ERX line to send! )

The SP03 is supposed to use 2 stop bits but this doesn't seem to be a problem.

It can speak any sentence that you can code up. The lack of arrays or any string processing in RoboBasic means sending messages byte at a time as long sequences which is a real shame.

The more I use RoboBasic the more I find how poor it is.

Using the LCD port for debug data via RS232 works a treat too. I might stick that into a mini RF link to do away with the wires.

I just need to package the whole lot in a backpack!

Next I'm going to add the CMUCam and try using the servo drive outputs on the CMUCam as inputs to steer robonova towards target colours.

[Humanoido]

I have just got my RoboNova to talk!

Congratulations. Any photos of your new system?

I have used a SP03 Text to speech board connected to ETX (actually you need to use the ERX line to send! )
The SP03 is supposed to use 2 stop bits but this doesn't seem to be a problem.

Do you have a cable diagram?

It can speak any sentence that you can code up. The lack of arrays or any string processing in RoboBasic means sending messages byte at a time as long sequences which is a real shame.

So to speak, you have to tell it one language character at a time? Can you use ASCII?

The more I use RoboBasic the more I find how poor it is.

It appears to work great at moving around servos. But for other control it can be lacking, as other forum members have pointed out. Why not run the SP03 from a dedicated stamp? You'd get all the control you need. RoboBasic is great for flagging a small controller of this kind. Or the byte could contain information about when and which routine to speak.

Using the LCD port for debug data via RS232 works a treat too. I might stick that into a mini RF link to do away with the wires.

I'd like to try this too, but how to connect it, plus how to debug and run RoboBasic at the same time?
Humanoido

[Pev]

Cool.

Have you considered storing the most used 30 phrases in the SP03 and triggering these with the single serial command rather than passing every character. I know you can do this on the I2C interface for the SP03 and think you can on the RS232. Would drop the ammount of code for the common phases.

This is the bit from the SP03 docs about it:

RS232 Commands
There are 32 serial commands that can be sent to the SP03. Thirty of these (commands 1 to 30, or 0x01 to 0x1E) are used to speak one of the thirty predefined phrases. To speak any of these phrases, just send a single command byte to the SP03. When the SP03 has finished speaking it will send the command back to the PC as an acknowledgement. Don't send any commands to the module whilst it is speaking, as they will be ignored. When the command is acknowledged, the module will be ready to receive another command.

Great work should consider moving my SP03 to my Nova

Pev

[Richard]

Hi Pev,

I used the fixed phrases first, but I thought ad-hoc speaking might be more useful. i.e. speaking the sonar range.

The limitations of the basic make this somewhat tedious.

But I see some clever chaps have cracked the bootloader so now we can load in C code direct.

It's a shame the basic isn't open source so it could be enhanced.

[rep001]

Interesting.I have an spo3 in the robot draw that i bought early last year.i had no trouble talking to and from the pc but had no luck at all using either 12c or the erx,trx lines on the rn board.If you can provide a diagram that would be swell.I have already made up the wiring as i did try it as i say.From memory i already have 30 phrases preloaded ready to be used that i wrote soon as it arrived.Look forward to hearing how you get on..... 8O 8O 8O

[Pev]

Richard

I agree the limitations of Robobasic are tedious.......Maybe a secodary processor.......

Pev

[Robo1]

have you got it to intereracte with the RN-1 code e.g. when you say something like forward it moves forward. some pics would be nice to see how big the final assembely is.

bren

[Robo1]

Sorry stopped question should read before posting text > speech not the other way around

bren

[Richard]

Hi Guys,

I take some shots once I've tidied his head up!

I've just installed a neck servo with an MaxSonar on it so he can 'look' around and make abusive comments if anything gets too close.

The SP03 takes 12V RS232 or I2C. I couldn't face coding I2C and the built in I2C is not enabled in RoboBasic, so I used a TTL to 232 board connected to ETX. The board has 2 channels so the other one connects to the LCD port to send data to my pc.

At the moment I have stacked the 2 cards on his back with pcb pillars fitted into the controller screw holes.

[Richard]

This might just show some photos of the speaker unit and sonar:





The Head is mounted on a Saturn Feather Servo.

The CMUCam interfaces via the servo inputs. So RoboNova can follow movements of any target colour.