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Voice Me! VoiceMe is a voice-activated remote control. It can be used to control up to ten functions on your TV, DVD player, Home Theatre system or whatever and it can have up to four separate users. If you are one of those who often loses remote controls, it could be an attractive option. W hile anyone can see the attractions of voice-activated control, it could be even more advantageous if the prospective user is blind, elderly, quadriplegic or otherwise handicapped and unable to use conventional remote controls. In fact, the potential for this device seems almost unlimited for these people. And since one of my relatives is blind, I was particularly keen to see if it would suit that situation. VoiceMe main unit The unit has two modes of operation: voice control or via an RF (radio frequency) remote. As you can see from the photograph the unit only has four buttons. Each button selects a user (1-4). It also has an infrared receiving window in front of the buttons and IR emitting windows to the left, right and rear. Each window has two IR LEDs. Finally, there is an electret microphone under a hole at the apex of the dome. Power for the unit comes from a 9V 300mA DC plugpack or it can be used with four AA cells which are fitted into a compartment underneath the unit. The unit apparently saves all commands in non-volatile memory, so loss of power (ie, when you change batteries) does not result in any loss of commands. VoiceMe extender The VoiceMe Extender RF remote control has four buttons corresponding to those on the main unit, plus mode and mute. The iPod-like circle at the top allows channel up and down with the left and right symbols and volume decrease and increase with the top and bottom symbols. A red LED at the top right corner 84  Silicon Chip lights whenever a button is pressed. Three AAA cells power this unit. In the majority of situations we assume that the Extender will only be used by a person who has not trained VoiceMe. Getting it working Now to the nitty gritty! The unit comes with the ability to distinguish the voices of up to four different users, with each user having a repertoire of 30 commands or at the other extreme, one user with 120 commands or any combination in between. Pressing any of the four buttons on VoiceMe will trigger the device into issuing a list of 11 functions. This is called manual setup and is the default method. The 11 functions are listed on the setup chart in the 4-page manual. Unless you plan to use the remote control, functions six, eight, nine and ten can be ignored, as these are only relevant to that device. Selecting a name The first step is to decide what you are going to call the device. R2D2 and C3PO were possible but black box won the day, even though it is silver and grey. We pressed the left front button again and as soon as ‘train keyword’ was spoken we pressed it again. If you have already entered a keyword it gives you the opportunity to change it. If you take no action the keyword remains, otherwise you overwrite the old keyword with a new one. We decided to initially test VoiceMe using an amplifier which had a remote control with the ability to turn the amplifier on and off, mute and raise and lower the volume. A single-page instruction sheet recommends using commands of three to four syllables as keywords or commands, in order to get better recognition results. Recording commands The next step was to record some commands. Each time you do this you are asked to repeat the command and evidently the software is doing some fancy analysis. Most remotes use the same command to turn a device on and off but we decided the command ‘listen to amplifier’ would be used for the on function and ‘turn off’ to do this. ‘Louder volume’ and ‘make sound softer’ are self-explanatory. We found commands like ‘volume up’ and ‘volume down’ were too similar and could not readily be differentiated by the device. Whether this was due to my voice or the device, I can’t say. Press and release the button and wait until it steps to ‘train command’ then push it again. ‘Listen to amplifier’, ‘turn off’, ‘louder volume’ and ‘make sound softer’ were recorded along with the IR codes for each action. siliconchip.com.au Review by RICK WALTERS The VoiceMe main unit (above) with its Extender unit at left. We imagine that the majority of people will not have much use for the extender as the main unit does everything it can – without buttons! We tried several remote controls but had no success with ‘mute sound’. The voice command was recorded and the IR code was supposedly recognised according to the beep, which acknowledges acceptance of the IR code. Now that you can command VoiceMe you need to select its response to you, ranging from ‘yes sir/ma’am’ through ‘what can I do for you’ to a lot of fancy sounds. We chose ‘how can I help you’. Thus the voice sequence is you address ‘Black Box’ which responds with ‘How can I help you’? You respond with ‘Listen to amplifier’. If your voice command is recognised the pre-recorded command is repeated back to you, then the IR signal is output. If your command is not recognised, you are ignored. Testing When we said ‘black box’ it responded with ‘how can I help you?’ ‘Listen to amplifier’ turned the amplifier on and ‘louder volume’ or ‘make sound softer’ increased or decreased the volume by 2dB (the amount programmed for the remote control). ‘Mute sound’ replayed the recorded command mute sound but did not afsiliconchip.com.au fect the volume. Eventually after several tries we got ‘shut off sound’ to work satisfactorily. Obviously what you actually say is irrelevant. As long as it is recognised, the IR signal should be accepted. To re-program the IR code you have to delete the command, re-record it and then supply the IR code once again. So far everything seemed to work as claimed. Now for the big test! VoiceMe was installed in a lounge room, which has a TEAC High Definition decoder, an LG Home Theatre system and an LG Plasma screen. ‘Turn Television on’ seemed an appropriate command. The individual devices were then programmed into VoiceMe. It accepted the three poweron IR signals, beeping after each was recognised. We were initially worried whether, with the VoiceMe sitting in the same plane and above the units, the IR output would reflect off the walls and actuate the units. Our worries were justified: it refused to operate at two metres distance from me but for a different reason – my voice was not loud enough to trigger the response. Moving it much closer, so that it was about 1m distant, al- lowed it to recognise commands. It switched on the Plasma screen and the TEAC decoder but refused to turn on the sound system. The remote was an LG 6710CDAP01B. We deleted the command and re-recorded it and the three remote signals. Again there were three beeps of acceptance but only two units powered on. However, it worked on the third try, so don’t give up! An interesting outcome was that we did not use VoiceMe for a couple of weeks and when I began using it again it had trouble recognising the ‘Black Box’ command. The instructions say to record with “regular tone, speed and volume”. You tend to raise your voice when you issue an instruction but with sufficient practice we believe you could address it in a normal conversational voice. We did not test the RF remote control. Who wants another remote? The main function of VoiceMe is to do away with remotes! However, after all the problems we had with different remotes and with getting the mute function to work with the amplifier, there was one major problem in attempting to get it trained so my mother could use it. Her voice was simply too soft! So unless the prospective “user” is able to speak fairly loudly and precisely, VoiceMe will have difficulty. To sum up: VoiceMe is an interesting device with enormous potential. If you can train it successfully, it will let you relegate all your pushbutton IR remotes and simply state your commands. Now, I wonder if it could also be trained to get me a beer when the cricket is on? Wbere from, how much? VoiceMe is available from Microgram Computers for $389 including GST. For further information, contact Microgram (www.mgram.com.au) at 3/7 Tumbi Creek Road, Berkeley Vale NSW 2261. Phone 1800 625 7777. SC June 2009  85