The Japanese are at it again. If the doings of Aibo and ASIMO have kept you engrossed, here is an uglier brother of theirs. This one, christened the Waseda Talker-7, is not known for his step climbing abilities nor does he wag his tail when patted.

What he does, however, is talk, in the human language! Ok, you might think, what's the big deal about a talking robot? We've had those since the mid eighties!!! The difference, my dear friend, is that while the others had conventional speakers belted out a limited number of pre-recorded audio "clips", Waseda Talker-7 "talks" on his own. He doesn't have a built-in speaker, so, all the words you hear in the short video are his own. Well, right now, all that he blurts out are monosyllables, but the ultimate aim of Waseda's creators is to try to replicate the mechanism underlying human speech. Now that's complex! Talking about complexity, the Waseda Talker-7 has a highly efficient mechanized system that replicates the functioning of our lungs, vocal cords, tongue, and lips - all of which are essential to help us, mortals, talk.

Oh, and to make things clear, don't expect the makers to build a better version with which you can have a heart-to-heart conversation; Waseda Talker-7 and his future incarnations are expected to play a role in the designing of high-compression, speech-synthesis products for cell phone applications of the future. What a waste!



Via: Gizmodo