Carlitos' Projects: Wireless Speech-Controlled Arduino Robot

We all dream of having appliances and machines that can obey our spoken commands. Well, let's take the first step towards making this happen and build a speech-controlled Arduino-based mobile robot.

You may be thinking that making such a robot must be a very complex task. After all, humans take many years before they can understand speech properly. Well, it is not as difficult as you may think and it is definitely lots of fun.

Step 1 Materials

In order to make a speech controlled mobile robot, there are a few basic components you will need. Rather than reinventing the wheel and telling you how to first build the mobile platform from the component level, or a speech recognition circuit, we show you how to integrate existing components into one seamless design. The list of parts below is suggested, though many can be swapped for similar products.

	1x DFRobotShop Rover kit: It constitutes the mobile robot to be controlled. The DFRobotShop Rover is based around an ATMega328 chip with Arduino bootloader and incorporates a dual motor controller, two gear motors connected to sprockets and tracks. Alternatively, you can create / use your own mobile robot which would need: microcontroller; motors; motor controller; wheels or tracks; battery pack
	1x VRbot speech recognition module: It processes the speech and identifies the commands. The unit comes fully assembled with a microphone and additional cable.
	2x Xbee RF communication modules: These transceiver modules create a wireless link between the speech recognition engine and the robot. The small blue square is the surface mount antenna. Note that you are not restricted to using XBee modules to transmit serial data.
	1x Arduino Uno: Controls the speech recognition module. Any Arduino or other microcontroller which has a serial output pin can be used in its place.
	1x IO expansion shield: Allows for easy connection between the Xbee module (which has a very specific pin header configuration) to the DFRobotShop Rover. This is used for convenience rather than necessity.
	1x Xbee shield: Allows for easy connection of an Xbee module to the Arduino Uno. Just like the I/O shield, this is used for convenience and is not required.
	Male headers: Required to connect the Xbee shield to the Arduino Uno.
	1x barrel jack to 9V battery adaptor: Used to power the Arduino Uno with a 9V battery.
	1x  microphone (a microphone is included with the speech recognition module)

Optional parts:

• 1x LED. It is not required since the IO expansion shield already has one but it can provide a more visible activity feedback.
• 1x Audio jack used to connect the optional headset
• 1x Headset (this is more comfortable than holding up a microphone)