June 14, 2012
Bishop State student uses Xbox Kinect device in invention of Voice Interface Controlled Robot (video)
By Renee Busby, Press-Register
Full Article at: AL.com (http://blog.al.com/live/2012/06/bishop_state_student_invents_v.html)
Mobile, AL – Bishop State Community College student James Deese has found a way for quadriplegics and the elderly to retrieve items with the use of a robot. Deese’s Voice Interface Controlled Robot (VICR) was designed using a Kinect interface for the Xbox video game system as the input device for sound. He had to interface four different systems and write a program for his laptop.
Deese is using a state-of-the-art piece of digital equipment found on satellites and deep-space probes called an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) to create a robot that understands language and reacts to voice command.
During a demonstration today at Bishop State's Southwest Campus the 35-year-old Deese showed how his invention works.
With the sound of his voice the 35-year-old student commanded the robot to pick up a bottle of water, signaling the robotic arm to hand the water to him through a series of commands.
"This technology will ultimately benefit everyone," said Joel Phillips, Deese's instructor. "But initially it will most likely be used for people with mobility issues."
Students in the Electronics Engineering Technology class at Bishop State each year design and build an electronics project using what they have learned in the class. Deese built a voice interface control system for one of the robotic arms in the class, a monumental task even for students at the university level, according Phillips.
For his work, Deese received outstanding student in a technical program last semester.