Timeline:
[101017] – Proposal & First Prototype (this post)
[181017] – Initial Wiring
[201017] – Input Speech & Output LED
[231017] – Speaker Test & Output Synthesizer
[061117] – Soldering & Final Paper Prototype
[141117] – Laser Cutting & Assembling
[161117] – Finalizing
[171117] – Final Project Documentation
Access to Proposal Presentation
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6wUx1RMq_4dRE91NEFUa0oxUTg
Project Context
Remember those moments when your mom told you to “Be Nice” whenever you said something bad? Growing up in a conservative family and coming from an Islamic school, I had a culture shock when I joined polytechnic. An unconscious overuse of the word “fuck” has affected our vocabulary and can be annoying sometimes.
Over time, I became more aware of insensitive words like “stupid”, “retard”, “gay”, “bitch”, “shit” in everyday conversations. There are definitely alternative words we can use.
End Goal
So with this project, I hope others will become more self-aware of whatever that is coming out of their mouth.
Inspiration Source
I was first inspired by graphic artist Sneha Keshav who created “Taming of the Fuckery”. The idea to her 100-day project is to not as much eliminate the word but add fun alternatives to one’s colourful language in the form of graphic and typography.
Similar Works
(i) The Pilot by Waverly Labs
A wearable technology which translates between languages. It claims to assist people in communicating with each other by breaking down the language barrier.
Pilot wirelessly accesses your smartphone’s processor so what does this do to your phone’s battery is anybody’s guess. Another downside to this is that it takes out the “human connect and feel” form the experience and joy of learning languages.
(ii) ili by Logbar
A Japanese company called Logbar has created a gadget that translates your words instantly so it could make travelling the world much easier. There are no load times and no phone needed. You just have to push the button, talk and let go.
At the moment, the device only translates words in English, Chinese and Japanese, more feasible than the Pilot device. Ili works without mobile data or WIFI so it could be used in remote places as well.
So.. what?
A thing about these two devices is that they are not in the market yet. So whether or not they will work like how the companies claimed them to? No one knows.
Although my project deals with offensive words and not languages, these devices have similar procedure. Someone speaks, the device translates words, and output a synthesised speech.
Proposed Idea
(i) Metaphor
Where do all these bad words come from? Your lips. And what do your cover your whole lips with?
A lipstick, lipbalm, lipgloss.
Why do you use them? To cover flaws on your lips; too dry, too dull, whatever. Similarly, this device acts as a filter that covers bad stuff coming out of your lips by translating insensitive words into less offensive ones.
Basically, it means you put a layer over your lips to cover and control whatever you say to the other person.
(ii) Sketches
Initially, I only wanted to create a device that looks like an actual lipstick but I realized, where am I supposed to hide all the technologies?
So I decided to evolve it into a cosmetic package instead which also includes the lipstick itself.
(iii) How It Works? – Technology
Sound will be captured and amplified using the electret microphone. It sends them over to an Arduino Due which digitalises via ADC. A software called ‘BitVoicer Server’ processes this audio and recognise speech to predefined commands.
Once it identifies a command, it sends back to Arduino and queue it into BVSSPeaker library to reproduce the audio via DAC. A Mono Audio Amp amplifies the audio through and 8 Ohm speaker.
(iv) Final Sketch & Interaction
Let’s say you go out to meet a friend who always use offensive words while talking without her realizing it. Simply bring out the cosmetic box, pull out the lipstick to get the microphone out, shove it to her face and let the device does it work.
For example, if she says “You’re stupid” through the mic, the system will detect ‘stupid’ and replies an alternative word like ‘Naive’ through the speaker.
The LED light on the lipstick indicates a progress bar of how much bad words she has spouted out. To reset, simply cap the lipstick back and place it in the box where a button will be triggered.
First Prototype
