Limitations of listening for speech on a robot
Before we start to build this, we should consider what we are going to make. Should the speaker and microphone be on the robot or somewhere else? Will the processing be local or in the cloud?
Here are some considerations to keep in mind:
- Noise: A robot with motors is a noisy environment. Having a microphone anywhere near the motors will make it close to useless.
- Power: The voice assistant is continuously listening. The robot has many demands for power already with the other sensors that are running on it. This power demand applies both in terms of battery power and the CPU power needed.
- Size and physical location: The speaker and voice HAT would add height and wiring complications to an already busy robot.
A microphone and speaker combination could be on a stalk for a large robot – a tall standoff with a second Raspberry Pi there. But this is unsuitable for this small and simple robot. We will create a...