The most significant risk is the TTS functionality. The hi library has been causing issues when data text input is directed from the WebApp directly. We have issues where a “run loop has already started” error occurs when trying to read new text after the first submission. As such, we have looked into alternatives, which includes Google TTS (gTTS). Upon trying gTTS out, we realized that while it does work successfully, it takes a significant amount of time to read long pieces of text aloud. Short texts with <20 words take an insignificant amount of time (2-3s) but longer pieces of text we tried such as 1000 words can take up to approximately 30s, and when we tried a standard page of text from a textbook, it took roughly 20s. These time delays are quite significant and is due to the fact that gTTS converts all text to mp3 first, and then the mp3 is played on the WebApp, whereas the previous TTS engine we wanted to use, pyttsx3, converts the text to speech as it reads the input text, and so performs much better. We also tried installing another TTS library, (just called the TTS python library) as a potential alternative for our purpose. We found that the file is very big, and when we tried installing it to our local computer it took hours and still wasn’t complete. We are concerned about the size of the library as we have limited space on the RPi. This library supports 1100 languages, and it takes very long to install. We plan to keep this in mind as a potential alternative, but as of now, gTTS library is the better option.
One potential risk with the DCI display to RPi5 connection is the fact that we aren’t able to connect via the HDMI port. Our goal is to use the MIPI DSI port. From the Amazon website, there is an example video of connecting the DCI display directly to the RPi5, to ensure that the display is driver free and compatible with the RPi signal (The RPi OS should automatically detect the display resolution). The display is 800×480 pixels, if our port isn’t working, we can directly set the resolution to the screen via code: hdmi_cvt = 800 480 60 6. This represents the horizontal resolution and vertical resolution in pixels, the refresh rate in hertz, as well as the aspect ratio, respectively.
As an update to our previous report concerns about not having built the robot base, this week, we have managed to laser-cut the robot base out of wood. Since the base is designed to be assembled and disassembled easily, it allows for easy parts access/modification to the circuit. For photos and more information about this, refer to Mahlet’s Status Report.
There are no changes to our schedule.