Universal Voice Activated Remote Control
(UVARC)
Thanh Phan
Dat Le
Mohammad Safaiezeab
Brandon Wilgor
Peter Ralston
Project Overview
• Uses external microphone to receive voice commands
• Analyzes the input command and compares to wordbank
• Determines remote control task corresponding to wordbank command
• Sends command code to external microcontroller
• Generates and transmits IR signal to the television’s receiver
Technical Specifications
Specification Proposed Product
Prototype
Effective Range 15 feet 5 feet
Battery 4 AA batteries 3 V Power supply
Vocabulary 25 words 17 words
Recognition Speaker Independent
Speaker Independent
Project DesignVoice Recognition Chip IR Generation Chip
IR Signal Generation
• Consists of PIC18LF2321 microcontroller connected to an IR LED
• Takes in parallel data from voice recognition chip on Port A
• Finds corresponding IR signal in memory table• Uses timer and pulse width modulator to
generate signal• Transmits signal on LED
Voice Recognition Chip
• Recognizes keywords at 96% accuracy• Listens to any user because of speaker
independence• Wakes up when activation word “TV” is spoken• Matches the next spoken word to a keyword in
memory • Sends five bits in parallel on Port 2 to IR
generation chip
Project Status
• External microcontroller generates the modulated IR signal
• VR chip recognizes voice commands with high accuracy
• The two chips are coded and interfaced to communicate
• Cannot program VR chip with written code
Coding Issues
• VR stamp C code must be compiled by Phyton• Phyton demo version
– Causes compilation errors– Pins assignments and flags differ from full version
• VR stamp recognizes wordbank in ROM memory• Code to send data to IR chip cannot be compiled• Working closely with Phyton customer support• Upgrade to full version for development of final product
($3500)– Worth the money because it provides more features– Includes comprehensive documentation and templates
Future Work
• Support one-word universal programming• Increase effective microphone range• Implement optional button interface• Increase memory capacity• Support multiple languages• Interface with multiple devices (DVD, satellite,
stereo, lights, etc.)
Cost Analysis
Marketing Costs Per year Total (5 yrs)
Advertising $150,000 $750,000
Sales Department $100,000 $500,000
Production Costs Total Units (5yrs) Time/unit Cost/unit Total
Assembly 75000 units 0.5 hr/unit $8.00 /hr $300,000
Testing 750 units 0.5 hr/unit $15.00/hr $5,625
Parts 75000 units 16.35/unit $1,226,250
Development Cost $30,391
Per Unit Total
Sales Price $65.00 $4,875,000
Total Costs $37.22 $2,791,266
Projected Profit $27.78 $2,083,734
Market Analysis
Product PriceReady Out of
BoxUser-Recorded
Macros UniversalSpeaker
Independent
UVARC $65 Yes No Yes Yes
Accenda Surfboard $55 No Yes Yes No
Invoca 3.0 $60 No Yes Yes No
Agile TV Promptu $80 No Yes Yes No
• Priced comparably to competitors• Achieves higher versatility through speaker
independence• Fills unique roll in VR remote market
– Ideal for houses with more than just a few people– Can be employed for a wide range of television uses– Easily portable and ready for programming