Now Hear This
From: New Scientist - 02/04/2006 - Vol. 189, No. 2537, P. 44
By: John Boyd

Researchers at Japan's Waseda University are working on robots capable of
more natural speech and interaction with people, and the potential
applications of such a breakthrough include reduced bandwidth load for cell
phone communications; improved control over artificial vocal cords for people
who cannot speak; and better tools for speech training and language learning.
The underlying goal of research into speaking robots is understanding how the
human brain controls speech actuators when people talk: "What we don't
clearly know is ... how the different circuits in the brain work together to
produce speech sounds," says Waseda University computer scientist Masaaki
Honda. "And we won't understand it exactly until we can reconstruct the brain
circuitry and machinery of speech." Honda is the creator of the Waseda
Talker, a robot that produces human-like speech sounds by pushing compressed
air through an artificial vocal tract equipped with motors that move the
lips, tongue, and vocal cords. The device is also outfitted with teeth and a
nasal cavity. Key to the Talker model's development over the years was the
increasing flexibility of its palate, tongue, and lips; with the addition of
such elements as protruding lips and a new control mechanism for the vocal
cords, the Talker could generate more natural-sounding speech. The robot can
mimic certain words by copying humans, with the help of sound analysis
software. The machine could one day mimic words on its own once researchers
have developed a computer model for voicing phonemes. 

Read the beginning of the article at:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/mg18925372.000.html

Links:

A Robot That Mimics Human Speech
http://www.acoustics.org/press/149th/kotaro.htm

Waseda Talker - Talking Robot
http://robotgossip.blogspot.com/2005/04/waseda-talker-talking-robot.html

The Waseda Talker talking robot
http://www.engadget.com/2005/04/13/the-waseda-talker-talking-robot/

Robot special: Almost human
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/mg18925371.800.html

A Talking Robot Sounds Like Humans
http://www.primidi.com/2005/04/13.html

Learning about the human vocal mechanism - A Talking Robot
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=22722