In ARC, certain robot skills that rely on online services, such as Bing Speech Recognition or Vision, may require a subscription to access these services. This is because these services are provided by third parties (like Microsoft for Bing Speech Recognition) and may incur costs for usage beyond certain limits or for advanced features.

When it comes to the ARC Runtime, if your project utilizes robot skills that depend on these online services, the functionality of these skills during runtime will depend on the subscription status of those services. If you have an active subscription or the service is within the free usage limits provided by the service provider, these skills should function as expected during the ARC Runtime. However, if the service requires a subscription that you do not have, or if you've exceeded the free usage limits, then those specific skills (like Bing Speech Recognition or Vision) may not work or be disabled during the ARC Runtime.

To ensure uninterrupted functionality:

1. Check the Subscription Status: Make sure you have an active subscription for the services your project depends on, if required.
2. Monitor Usage Limits: Be aware of any usage limits for the free tier of these services and plan your usage accordingly to avoid hitting these limits during critical runtime operations.
3. Explore Alternatives: For some functionalities, ARC might offer alternative robot skills that do not rely on subscription-based online services. Exploring these alternatives could provide a workaround if you prefer not to subscribe to a third-party service.

In summary, whether Bing Speech Recognition or Vision functions will be disabled during the ARC Runtime depends on the subscription and usage policy of the third-party services these skills rely on. It's essential to ensure compliance with these policies for seamless functionality during runtime.

Hi @Athena,

Thank you for your response! Could you provide more information? Do you happen to know the free usage limits for "Bing Speech Recognition" and "Vision"?

Because I want to share my project to 20 to 60 people to try!

You need to place an @ symbol in front of her name for her to hear you and reply.

Hi Dave, Thank you for mention that!

The services you asked about are 3rd party and owned by different companies. Because of that, Synthiam has to pay for access to those services. The payment is included in your subscription fee because Synthiam purchases bulk usage from those companies.

I believe the free usage for the trial is 10 per day. You can compare here: synthiam.com/Products/ARC#compare

Thank you for your response! If I sell my creation along with my project, which incorporates "Bing Speech Recognition" and "Vision," and if my clients use the "ARC Runtime" to access my creation, will these functions operate slowly, fail to work, or only be available for a limited time before being disabled?

Hey Ricky, I'll chime in here...

You must decide who will pay for the cognitive service access if you sell your creation (you or the customer).

You see, synthiam cannot pay for your users to have access to services. The services cost money, so someone has to pay, whether you or the customer.

Most likely, you do not want to pay for your customers' services, nor does Synthiam wish to pay for your customers' services.

The customer will have to pay for the services because the services cost money.

Hello DJ,

Thank you for your reply! It's great to have clarification on my questions about the "ARC Runtime" for users after developing the project. I am considering whether I can share my program project in my creation. However, if my clients are not program developers, it may not be useful for them. My clients can be divided into two categories: general users with no programming background and program developers. This presents a tricky situation, and I need to figure out how to convince general users to join the program plan.

I think you can summarize your users in two groups...

1. end-users
2. creative-users (instead of programmers)

Synthiam ARC is not great for end-users because the "programs" lack a dedicated user interface. You can create a custom interface with Interface Builder and make it full-screen when the project loads. But it still might not be suitable for end-users

However, creative users are more comfortable tinkering and customizing their robots with ARC. They do not necessarily need to program because robot skills are available. But they might enjoy adding custom features to their robot.

So, those two user groups will both require features of your ARC robot project. If your ARC robot project uses 3rd party services, such as Bing speech recognition or cognitive vision, someone must pay for that. I do not advise that your business pay for the customers to have access to 3rd party services because you will run out of money quickly.

Third-party services are Cognitive Vision, Bing Speech, Azure Text To Speech, etc...

Remember, third-party services charge per use. So the more you use it, the more it costs. You cannot pay for a customer who uses $10 or $20 per month of 3rd party services. Synthiam cannot pay free users for $10 or $20 per month of services.

I recommend your customers can choose their robot version from you...

1. One project does not include third-party services and is entirely free using ARC RunTime. It is a "light" version of your project.

2. The second project includes third-party services, and the users pay for ARC Pro. This is the "Pro" version of your project.

Remember, Synthiam includes a revenue-sharing model - so if your customers purchase ARC Pro, you make money. Synthiam will pay you to sell ARC Pro subscriptions. There are a few ways we can do it, but the easiest is Affiliate Program: synthiam.com/Account/Referral-Affiliate-Program

You can even put your affiliate program link on your website or emails; anyone who purchases an ARC subscription can get a portion of the money.

Hi DJ, Appreciate your opinions! It's good to learn more. I will share details about my new promotion with you through a private channel. I hope my ideas can contribute to the success and growth of your business!

Thank you everyone!