Total Speech Recognition

How to use the Total Speech Recognition robot skill

AKA the worst speech recognizer - by request of users who wish for unusable open dictionary offline speech recognition. Unlike the regular speech recognition control which allows pre-defined phrases or the Bing Speech Recognition which works, this is an open dictionary, allowing any combination of words. However, the implementation of this type of speech recognition is not great... not great at all! You can get acceptable results sometimes by using a handheld microphone and very well trained data for your voice, specifically.

Main Window

1. Pause Checkbox When not in use you can keep the skill paused.

2. Audio Waveform This gives visual feedback that your microphone is configured correctly and is picking up voice/sounds.

3. Response Field Here you will get feedback from the Total speech recognition offline database. It will show the text version of your detected words.

Settings

1. Confidence Selection If you notice Low confidence messages in response field use this selection to lower the confidence level. Be aware that if you lower the level too much the speech recognition will produce false positives.

2. Setup Microphone Button This button selects an audio input device from a list of installed devices.

3. Scripts The "All recognized" script is where you enter the phrases which will be recognized and the command associated with each phrase. The "Low Confidence" script can be executed if the confidence is higher or lower than the specified value. Your script can parse the text and try to figure out what was said.

4. Variables The recognized text is placed into the Phrase variable. The confidence level is placed in the Confidence variable.

How to Use the Total Speech Recognition Skill

1. Add the skill to your ARC project (Project -> Add Skill -> Audio -> Total Speech recognition).

2. In the settings menu of this skill setup your microphone (if not already setup) and lower the confidence value if needed.

3. Save your settings, and start speaking into the microphone. You'll find the words that the skill recognizes in the the response field.

Requirements

Using a headset or external mic will produce dramatically better results compared to the internal PC/Laptop mic. Using a headset or mic will enable the recognition engine to "hear" your voice much clearer with less background noise. The background noise of the laptop, motors, radio, and room echo will cause the recognition software to return False Positives. This means the software recognizes an incorrect phrase. An external mic will also prevent the recognition software from hearing the robot speak. In short, it is important to use a Mic Headset or external Mic for a positive Speech Recognition experience.

Alternatives There are alternative behavior controls that use online recognition, which means you will require an internet connection. The alternative skills are much better and have incredible accuracy. The recommended online skills are Bing Speech Recognition and Advanced Speech Recognition. There may be others as well. Check the Audio section of Docs/Skills for more.