Caretaker EasyVR
This Caretaker kit combines an Arduino (custom build), a XBee wireless communications module, a FT232-USB module and an EasyVR voice recognition module made by VeeaR
This Caretaker kit combines an Arduino (custom build), a XBee wireless communications module, a FT232-USB module and an EasyVR voice recognition module made by VeeaR .
The functionality of this kit is like the remote control , but instead of pressing buttons you can simply say things like "desktop light on" or "ambient light 30 percent". It's like being on the U.S.S. Enterprise ;-)
This board can also be used as a standalone kit for experimenting with the EasyVR module. You can replace the XBee module with a Roving Networks WiFly module to connect to your WLAN router. The 3-way switch connects the USB serial port to one of the three system components: the Arduino, the WiFly module or the EasyVR module. This allows you to configure and program all three components in turn by simply switching the serial port button.
There is one complication: The Arduino XBee library expects the XBee module to be connected to the hardware serial port (D0, D1). But to be usable as a general experimentation kit, the Atmel should be programmable in Arduino mode over the USB serial interface, which in this case must also be connected to the hardware serial interface. To met both requirements there is a jumper block, with which you can device whether the Atmel's hardware serial is connected to the USB or the WiFly/XBee module (EasyVR-Kit mode/CoYoHo mode).
Board and Schematics
The schematics is quite simple and so is the PCB. It's a single sided through-hole board and most of the discrete parts belong to the ATmega168 in it's Arduino configuration.
Project Files
The Caretaker source code is hosted at GitHub:
https://github.com/grappendorf/caretaker-devices
Subdirectory: caretaker-device-easyvr
It contains the source code and all Eagle (V6) PCB layout files.