Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
legitimate device. The speech sounds it produced were the forerunners
of the concatenated electronic speech systems in use today,
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and the
machine was not only able to produce speech sounds (19 of them), but
was also the first that could speak whole words and short sentences. It
could say “mama”, “papa”, “You are my friend—I love you with all my
heart”, “My wife is my friend” and “Come with me to Paris”, but not
very distinctly.
Von Kempelen's machine consisted of a bellows that simulated the
human lungs and was designed to be operated with the right forearm.
A counterweight allowed for “inhalation”. There was a “wind box” that
was provided with some levers to be actuated with the fingers of the right
hand, a “mouth”, made of rubber, and a “nose”. The two “nostrils” had
to be covered with two fingers unless it was intended to produce a nasal
sound. The whole speech production mechanism was enclosed in a box,
with holes for the hands and additional holes in its cover.
The final version of von Kempelen's talking machine is preserved in
the Deutsches Museum in Munich, in the department of musical instru-
ments. Its voice production mechanism, including the pitch control, is
still functional, and reportedly sounds like that of a child or of an adult
speaking quite loudly.
Joseph Faber's “Wonderful Talking Machine”
Joseph Faber was a German inventor who developed a talking machine
called the Euphonia. In 1840 he demonstrated his machine in Vienna
where it attracted very little public interest, causing him to leave Europe
for America. In December 1845 Faber exhibited his “Wonderful Talking
Machine” at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia. The machine was
similar to a small chamber organ but possessed only a single pipe. It con-
sisted of a bizarre-looking talking head that spoke in a “weird, ghostly
monotone,” as Faber manipulated it with foot pedals and a keyboard. By
pumping air with the bellows, and using different combinations of 16
keys to manipulate a series of plates, chambers, and other apparatus in-
cluding its artificial tongue, the operator could make the machine speak
any European language.
When the Euphonia was exhibited in London in 1846, the machine
produced not only ordinary and whispered speech but also sang the na-
tional anthem “God Save the Queen”. But after Faber spent 17 years
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See the section “Text-to-Speech Synthesis” in Chapter 7.
