Basic Speech Synthesis

How to use the Basic Speech Synthesis robot skill

English-only text to speech. This robot skill is a text to speech engine: it does not speak on its own, it is what ARCx uses when anything in the project asks for speech.

Audio is rendered by Synthiam's cloud service using the classic Windows voice and played out of the PC speaker (or out of an EZB, depending on which script command is used).

Requirements

• You must be logged into your Synthiam account in ARCx. The audio is synthesized by Synthiam's web service, and without a login the skill raises "There is no user logged into ARC."
• An internet connection.
• Only one instance of this skill is allowed per project, and only one text to speech engine skill should be in a project at a time. If you want natural sounding or non-English voices, use Advanced Speech Synthesis instead.

Adding it to a project

1. Add the skill to the project (Audio category).
2. That is the whole setup - there is nothing to configure.
3. Anything that speaks now works: the Audio.Say() script command, the Autonomous AI skill's voice, speech responses from other skills, and so on.

The window

• Stop Speaking - stops whatever is being spoken right now, immediately.
• Log - the last 25 lines of activity, including what was spoken and any errors.

Configuration

There is no configuration for this skill. The voice is fixed.

Speaking from a script

Audio.Say("Hello, I am a robot");          // PC speaker, returns immediately
Audio.SayWait("Hello, I am a robot");      // PC speaker, waits until finished
Audio.SayEZB("Hello from my own speaker"); // EZB #0 speaker
Audio.SayEZBWait("Hello", 0);              // EZB #0 speaker, waits until finished

Every one of these routes through whichever text to speech engine skill is in the project - this one, if it is the one you added.

Troubleshooting

See also

• Advanced Speech Synthesis - natural sounding, many languages
• Windows Speech Engine - offline synthesis using the voices installed in Windows

Control Commands for the Basic Speech Synthesis robot skill

There are Control Commands available for this robot skill which allows the skill to be controlled programmatically from scripts or other robot skills. These commands enable you to automate actions, respond to sensor inputs, and integrate the robot skill with other systems or custom interfaces. If you're new to the concept of Control Commands, we have a comprehensive manual available here that explains how to use them, provides examples to get you started and make the most of this powerful feature.

This skill has no control commands.

It is a text to speech engine. It does not receive commands; it provides the voice that ARCx uses whenever something asks for speech.

How to make it speak

Use the Audio object from a JavaScript or Python script:

Example:

Audio.SayWait("Hello, my name is Six");
Audio.Say("I am going to move now");

Stopping speech

The Stop Speaking button in the skill's window stops playback. There is no control command equivalent in this skill.