An Open Voice Command Interface Kit

An open-source voice command interface kit has been developed by integrating open-source software and inexpensive hardware components. The software for the kit has been developed as a lightweight modular framework with replaceable components. It also provides a C++ library to support development of applications on top of it. The usefulness of the kit is demonstrated by applying it to voice-steer an electric wheelchair. Three participants voice-steered the wheelchair along a complicated path and found the kit to respond reliably. The average recognition time is ~ 500 ms, indicating utility of the kit for near real-time applications.