Hi all,
I'm planning my first Arduino project and would like to use voice recognition to control a relay board. First things first, I'm not sure which Arduino board will best suit my application, but from what I've read—and think I understand—the Arduino Uno seems to fit my needs (nothing too complicated, but still reasonable in capability). I also have researched independent voice recognition add-ons and have determined that the EasyVR board should make for the simplest implementation. Finally, I found an 8ch relay board that is Arduino compatible, but, being that I am so unfamiliar with the pin layout of Arduinos, I'd like advice on whether or not my choices seem reasonable and whether or not the parts will work together without and conflicts. Any helpful advice and guidance for my upcoming project would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
Hi and welcome.
you could have included a link for EasyVR. Here it is.
There are some customer comments about problems with using the module with UNO. Better check those out before committing your $50. Also, the inside of a moving car is a noisy environment. I would want to know if anyone else has had success with the shield in similarly noisy places.
Other than that, an UNO should be fine. You can always upgrade to a Mega later if you run out of resources, but you will almost certainly find the UNO will be more than enough.
Paul
Thanks for your advice! I've read those comments about people having problems with the EasyVR module, but, for some reason, I was under the impression that the problem was only related to a misplaced jumper (although I'm not quite sure where I read that). Also, the one thing that interested me about the EasyVR module was that it records custom sound imprints for commands. That means that if the noisy environment of a car does not recognize a clear vocal imprint, I might be able to record the command while driving to create an imprint that should have similar background noise to everyday driving. It's just a theory, but it seems possible. Thanks again for your guidance!
My mobile phone seems pretty good at canceling out background noise and picking out speech, and recognising what I'm saying. I suspect you'd find that level of accuracy extremely difficult to achieve with an EasyVR shield. That makes me think that perhaps an in-car PC, or a smartphone/tablet, would be a more appropriate platform for this project.
In fact, I had initially planned this project to be a full carputer with a projected HUD (being that I know my way around Visual Basic and enjoy UI design), but after realizing the startup and shutdown times of a Windows-based carputer, I found Arduino to have promising potential with a much smaller price tag. I'd much rather take a chance with the opportunity to repurpose the Arduino than sink $1000 into a logistical headache. ARDUINO FOR THE WIN!
...I'm also just curious to see if it's possible... 
Have you considered hibernating it instead of shutting it down? I would have thought you could have resumed a typical PC by the time you've finished starting the engine.
I actually never considered the "hibernate" option 
A Raspberry Pi was also something I considered, I just felt that the existing project examples and community would be much stronger for Arduino than Pi (something I need since I have never worked with either system).