# SoftBank Robotics documentation What's new in NAOqi 2.8?

# ALSpeechRecognition

NAOqi Audio - Overview | API | Tutorial

Cannot be tested on a simulated robot - This module is only available on a real robot, you cannot test it on a simulated robot.

## What it does

The ALSpeechRecognition module gives to the robot the ability to recognize predefined words or phrases in several languages.

For the complete list of languages, see: Supported languages, Supported languages.

Warning

ALSpeechRecognition is a low level module, offering elementary speech recognition functions, which are fully integrated in ALDialog.

Therefore, it is highly recommended to prefer the usage of ALDialog.

Notably, a direct usage of ALSpeechRecognition does not trigger the Listening feedback described in Talking with Pepper section.

## How it works

### Technology

ALSpeechRecognition relies on sophisticated speech recognition technologies provided by NUANCE.

### Operating principle

Step | Description
--- | ---
A | Before starting, ALSpeechRecognition needs to be fed by the list of phrases that should be recognized.
B | Once started, ALSpeechRecognition places in the key SpeechDetected, a boolean that specifies if a speaker is currently heard or not.
C | If a speaker is heard, the element of the list that best matches what is heard by the robot is placed in the key WordRecognized.
D | If a speaker is heard, the element of the list that best matches what is heard by the robot is placed in the key WordRecognizedAndGrammar.

The WordRecognized key is organized as follows:

    [phrase_1, confidence_1, phrase_2, confidence_2, ..., phrase_n, confidence_n]

where:

- phrase_i is one of the predefined phrases and
- confidence_i an estimate of the probability that this phrase is indeed what has been pronounced by the human speaker.

Note that the different hypothesis contained in that key are ordered so that the most likely phrases comes first.

The WordRecognizedAndGrammar key is organized as follows:

    [phrase_1, confidence_1, grammar_1, phrase_2, confidence_2, grammar_2, ..., phrase_n, confidence_n, grammar_n]

where:

- phrase_i is one of the predefined phrases and
- confidence_i an estimate of the probability that this phrase is indeed what has been pronounced by the human speaker.
- grammar_i is the name of the grammar used by the recognition engine.

Note that the different hypothesis contained in that key are ordered so that the most likely phrases comes first.

## Word Spotting option

The parameter enableWordSpotting of `ALSpeechRecognitionProxy::setVocabulary` modifies the content of the returned result:

- If true: Phrase_i contains <...>phrase<...> Where the markers <...> indicates garbage results of the speech recognition.
- If false: Phrase_i contains the exact searched phrase.

Glossary Site map Index Support Contact Legal Notices