The Voice of the "Internet of Things" Says Hello

"Hello," said the "Say Hello" unit.

Viktor cackled with glee and said, “Dr. Phil, do you hear it? Do you know what you're listening to?”

Dr. Phil set down the bone he was caressing and thought carefully and replied sourly,"I hear that the unit is finally saying something other than 'That's what she said.'"

Viktor flashed a pained smile, and patted the unit affectionately. “This is far more important than you could possibly imagine. It's not merely the first step in solving 'The Great Missing Dog Treat Mystery.' Its significance is mind-blowing."

He paused for dramatic effect. "What you're hearing is the very voice of the 'Internet of Things.'"

He paused again to let that sentence sink in.

"I have given voice to those objects that were previously voiceless. Because of this unit, objects can now talk. Technology finally has a voice. This is a leap into the evolution of... things. They now can talk!" He thrust his fists into the air enthusiastically.

Dr. Phil blinked and replied flatly, "I know that 'Say Hello' can be configured to do lots of things, like reading data streams aloud, like e-mail, stock reports, weather temperatures.Those are all data streams that get sent to the unit and then spoken aloud. So, how is it you're giving voices to objects?"

Viktor grinned. "Because it's a speech server. It can be used with any object that has data to report."

Dr. Phil shook his head. "But couldn't you have just made a speech server in software? You love writing software."

"Yes, but I would have to write a thousand lines of code." Viktor waved his hand dismissively. "And if I wrote software for phones I would have to use the AT\&T voice technologies which are too...human. Technology shouldn't sound like a person--it should sound like an object. The voice of this unit is like the whisper of an angel using a computerized voice
modulator."

Viktor smiled as he imagined that scenario and continued, "The most important thing about the 'Say Hello' is it's a modular solution to the challenge of adding a voice to a project. You don't need a computer, you don't need software. You just build this unit and you're ready to make things talk. It's a stand-alone module. If IKEA were part of the mad science world, this would be their solution."

Viktor stopped talking and typed into his computer furiously.

"I am M-O-D-U-L-A-R," said "Say Hello."

Viktor tittered.

"Well, isn't it difficult to build a speech server out of hardware? That sounds pretty hard. I would rather do open-heart surgery on an angry bee than solder hundreds of tiny electronics parts." Dr. Phil stuck his finger in his mouth to see if his latest bee-related injury had healed.

“There are magical products that only engineers and mad scientists know about. And I, like Prometheus, shall bring fire and light to humanity, in the form of useful hardware that no one else seems to know about. Like the Parallax Emic 2 Text-to-speech Module. Why write software, when this module already has speech software? All I had to do was to connect it to a Wifi module and voilà!--a networked speech server," said Viktor, who was now typing again.

"Vwah-la," said "Say Hello."

"So, you didn't have to write any software?"

"No, all I did was connect a few pieces of hardware together with wire. That's it. It was so easy, even a medical doctor could do it." Viktor smirked, then realized the danger of taunting one's doctor.

"But couldn't you have designed a board that puts all the hardware parts together?," asked Dr. Phil, ignoring Viktor's quip.

"Nonsense. I want to inspire people to become mad scientists, eccentric engineers, and artistic aesthetes who revel in the joy of inventing. One day... one day I will rule the world with my army of mad scientists and...” He paused again.

"Oh, anyway, one can only be creative if the parts one needs are readily-available and reasonably-priced. And so, I designed this project with parts that can be acquired at a local Radio Shack or Fry's. A few parts have to be mail-ordered, but most don't."

"So, even I, who have no programming experience, can make something talk?" Dr. Phil was beginning to look excited. "What couldn't I do with a speech server?"

Viktor shouted, "Exactly! And you can make anything talk, whether it's a Raspberry Pi computer, an Arduino Uno board, a Propeller board, any kind of phone, any kind of computer. It's like the Swiss Army knife of speech for technology. Its uses are limitless. And anyone can easily build it and use it for any conceivable project."

Dr. Phil smiled and asked, "Why did you call it the 'Say Hello?'"

"Well, when I write software, I, of course, do the 'Hello World' thing, as that is just the proper etiquette in the world of programming. But I would never merely say, 'Hello World.' That's just gauche. Instead, I write the far more elegant, 'Hello C compiler,' 'Hello Python,' et cetera. Oh, and I happened to think up the name while watching this msic video on the big-screen projector TV. So in essence, the TV told me what to name it." Viktor emitted a happy sigh.

"So, do TVs often tell you what to do?," asked Dr. Phil, with a look of concern.

“Of course!” exclaimed Viktor, “And now I can actually have the TV talk to other people."

"I need a..." Viktor said to Einida, as she walked in room "...another wifi module. I have an Idea!"

For the technical details on how to build your own "Say Hello," complete with schematics, video, project notes and source code, please go here.