EEVblog #713 - Voice Recognition - 1980's Style

Dave breadboards a 1988 vintage Tandy / Radio Shack VCP200 speaker independent voice recognition chip from Voice Control Products Inc.
Will it work after 27 years?
Will it recognise his Australian accent?
Special guest appearance by Sagan!

Forest Mimms article in 1989 Modern Electronics magazine:

MC68HC04 Datasheet:

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[bigclivedotcom]

I liked Sagan's mini meter review. He's right too. He's going to save a whole load of pocket money by not buying a Fluke. I had a speech recognition toy when I was a kid. It recognised yes and no, but in reality it only detected the and ohhhh bits.

[FranLab]

Pretty cool chip!  I don't think I'll be modding my car for VCP200 voice control though.  Stop =

[jkltech]

I remember reading about how to implement it for a Z80 in a robotics book.

[DextersTechLab]

all that time that IC has been patiently waiting to be found and used, how satisfied it must feel to be awakened from it's slumber on Dave's bench!

[JerseyTom]

Hey Dave, being that I'm from New Jersey, I looked up VCP just to see where they were.  Your assumption that it may have been a spinoff of some PhD research is probably spot on... their address in Hoboken is 2 blocks from Stevens Institute of Technology which did indeed foster a whole slew of tech companies in that neighborhood... and also happens to be my alma mater.  Might help you in tracking down some more information.  Cheers!

[dwDragon]

Sagan will be building circuits within a year or two. Remarkable. Good on ya Dave, he's a smart kid!

[aaroNiGHTS]

I'm amazed at how well that chip actually works.

[richfiles]

From the moment I saw the filtering circuit... I wanted to not just see the waveforms on the scope, but to actually _hear_ what voice sounded like at each of the different filter stages... You should drop a sound file on the forums or something so we can hear what that chip needs to "hear" in order to work.

[Jonesax]

So nice to see Sagan playing with your stuff. He is very smart! My 2 years old girl also love to play with my electronics boards and for mammy ´s desperate the screw drivers and soldering iron.

[Beckmagic]

I was always intrigued by this when I saw it in the Radio Shack stores back in the day, but I just never bought one. I am so glad you took the time to go thru this and make a video on it! Thanks for sharing!

[ElmerFuddGun]

That was EXACTLY (+/- 2 ms) the right amount of Sagan.  Loved how you (I assume) put the meter in diode mode so he could "test" the LED and see it light up.  Seeing him push in the LEDs is inspiring at such a young age.  Awesome.

I don't need to see Sagan on every video but you seem to have the mix perfect.  And he was on topic!  Thanks Dave for another great video.

[DGJB]

Thank's for all the content Dave.  What a great blast from the past.  It's also great to see how quickly Sagan is growing.  He's got a great Teacher!

[VideoSack]

Good video, R.I.P. Radio Shack
Being a grandpa I think it's great that Dave gets his son involved. Especially these days when you hear nothing but complaints about young kids just playing video games and sitting on their duff. Sagan may want to follow in daddy's shoes, what an excellent way to teach them while they're young and their minds soak everything up. I've always enjoyed being around young kids as they investigate and absorb the world around them. If you don't care to sit through a child investigating the fascinating world of electronics then simply fast forward to when Dave starts in again. Simple as that!

[sneakysnake]

Love the shots of Sagen. That is awesome. Amazing that he has learned so much already. You are giving him a great start in the modern world. Keep up the great work Dave! Time invested in our children is never wasted.

[YensR]

Pretty impressive for 1988, I think - and it's great to see this "blast from the past" in operation!

[Xrispy]

I love seeing the progression your son has had with electronics!

[TheScottytr]

Great vid! Thanks! I recall reading an article in the early 80's about the difficulties involved in trying to develop a speech to text system. The article was titled 'How to wreck a nice beach' which is what the machine typed out when they said 'How to recognize speech'. 

[Ogmabandcamp]

Brilliant video, one of your best Dave. A big thumbs up from me. Amazing what you can do with 1K and a bit of machine code, I remember programming a basic Space Invaders game with 1K on a ZX81.

[AdammP]

great vid! thanks for the upload, was slightly disapointed at some peoples comments about Sagan, he's just helping out and learning! whats the issue with that, at least hes got a great dad. Thanks Dave! bloody ripper - keep 'em coming.

[quincy]

Very interesting video, this chip was really advanced for the 1980's ahead of its time in many ways. Good to see Sagan again !