Invited over by Davin through LinkedIn, ipXchange rocked up to the Rutronik stand at Sensor+Test, and after seeing some familiar devices, we chatted with Tim for a live demonstration of the Text To Speech adapter board that featured as one of our top boards of 2022.
With an EPSON S1V3G340 at its heart, the Text To Speech shield was integrated in a stack of other boards that use an Arduino pin layout, one of which was hooked up to a bendable display stand for easy demonstration of an action-and-response operation. As motion was detected, a smooth voice could be heard through some monitor speakers that were directly connected to the board via a 3.5 mm jack – Rutronik really do make evaluation very easy – and we’re sure you will agree that the voice sounded very natural, at least in English.
As Tim explains, when combined with a standard microcontroller and Rutronik’s Sensorfusion board, for example, this text-to-speech solution can be used to create effective voice alerts for many different applications. A prime example would be a warning in the event of compromised air quality due to industrial processes or fire.
The key benefit of this device is versatility of voice alerts without the requirement for expensive and time-consuming studio recordings. Support for 12 languages also encourages a global market for products incorporating the EPSON device, so Rutronik’s Text To Speech board is an effective way of testing a cost-effective solution to implementing voice alerts in resource-constrained end products.