Iron Man Mark VI build + Easy DIY Jarvis tutorial

Artimis

Active Member
Long time lurker, first time poster......I started a foam Mark VI build at the end of July with the hopes of having it ready for Halloween. Sadly, I only have the top half completed so I'm going to end up using it as a prop for when trick-or-treaters come (will be dressed as Tony stark). It's my first foam build so it is taking me a while and I'm trying to make it as clean as possible. I'm also automating the faceplate and adding repulsors with different light settings and sounds.

I hope to have picture of my progress up shortly but one thing I wanted to share with the community is a very simple but effective DIY Jarvis that anyone with an android device (2.2 or higher) can integrate with their suit.

1) Make sure you have an android device running 2.2 or higher. 4.x is preferred for some of the tts enhancements that I don't think are in earlier versions.

2) Download "Zandra - Make your Jarvis" from the app store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=today.is.future.zandra)

This app will let you create phrases for voice input automation of various aspects of the device (e.g. commands to turn on/off wifi, open apps, etc.).

The beauty of this app is that you can create commands and have the app respond in either one of two ways:
1) Load up your device with various sound clips from the movie and set the app to play them after speaking certain phrases.

2) In settings, you can use the "UK Voice" and turn on "Zandra Speak" in order to get him to say anything you want using the native Google TTS engine (make sure this is installed). While it is not an exact Jarvis voice, it sounds very similar and allows you to script out enough dialogues to impress your friends (e.g. say "Jarvis, give everyone my holiday wishes". response: "Mister Stark would like to wish you all a very happy and safe Halloween.").

There are a number of other creative uses but if you already own and android device (or can pick one up for cheap) this is a great way to get a Jarvis system easily integrated into your build.
 

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Super clean! I just finished my first build.. Mark VI.. I'm pretty happy with it.. Had to rush some of the stuff, but plan on working on it continuously! Keep up the good work!
 
2) Download "Zandra - Make your Jarvis" from the app store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=today.is.future.zandra)

Artimis, can I trouble you with some questions about Zandra?

I installed it this morning and have been playing with it for a bit.. I want to make sure I'm squeezing out the maximum that this little app can give me..

As far I can tell, 'Zandra' has only two native voices (US and UK) and both are female. I didn't find a way to download a UK-male voice, did you?

If I'm going into 'google TTS' settings, I see that there should be a couple of different voices in THAT app.. but I really don't seem understand how that app is supposed to work by itself..

also, in Zandra, there is an annoying 'booop' when it goes into listen mode and a another annoying 'bi-bliiing' after every command it understood.
how can I remove those? did you?

HELP!!! if we can figure a way to tweak those two things, I see a lot of potential for Zandra in Iron Man cosplay in the future!!

cheers! :thumbsup
 
Artimis, can I trouble you with some questions about Zandra?

I installed it this morning and have been playing with it for a bit.. I want to make sure I'm squeezing out the maximum that this little app can give me..

As far I can tell, 'Zandra' has only two native voices (US and UK) and both are female. I didn't find a way to download a UK-male voice, did you?

If I'm going into 'google TTS' settings, I see that there should be a couple of different voices in THAT app.. but I really don't seem understand how that app is supposed to work by itself..

also, in Zandra, there is an annoying 'booop' when it goes into listen mode and a another annoying 'bi-bliiing' after every command it understood.
how can I remove those? did you?

HELP!!! if we can figure a way to tweak those two things, I see a lot of potential for Zandra in Iron Man cosplay in the future!!

cheers! :thumbsup

Sorry for the delayed response -- I was out of town. So the issue with the voice has to do with the Google TTS engine which they unfortunately changed in November. There are 3 things you can do in order to try and get the UK male voice working:

1) Ensure Google TTS is selected as your preferred engine. This can be set under the phone's settings -> Accessibility -> Text-to-speech output -> Google Text-to-speech

2) As of November, Google updated their UK TTS engine with a default female voice. For apps that use network TTS, there doesn't appear to be a workaround that I know of yet. However, Zandra uses the local engine so if you updated your TTS app through the play store, you can roll back the update by going to the phone's main settings -> Application Manager -> All (tab) -> Google Text-to-speech engine -> and click "Uninstall Updates" (this option will only be present if you've updated your TTS enigne through the play store).

3) If all 3 above fail, I have attached my GoogleTTS.apk which contains the correct UK voice. View attachment GoogleTTS.zip.
You will need to change the extension of the file from .zip to .apk as the forum would not let me upload it natively in apk format.

If none of this works, there are some additional steps we can take to force all local voices to the UK male (not just Zandra) it but I'd rather not go through those unless the steps above fail because they have some other small ramifications.

As far as the beeping noises, that is just stock behavior for the Google Voice Typing Input fucntionality. Personally, it doesn't bother me but if it is something you are really looking to get rid of, I can look into creating a version of the Google Search apk (where I think the voice input keyboard is contained) with these sounds removed. It will be a global change though so any app that uses voice inputs or prompts won't make these sounds anymore.

Hope this help.


PS -- once you get the local voices sorted out, another interesting app to check out is Utter! It can do some pretty cool stuff as well and has a lot of potential. There are still things I prefer Zandra for but if development on Utter! continues, I'm curious to see how creative people can get with it.
 
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If none of this works, there are some additional steps we can take to force all local voices to the UK male (not just Zandra) it but I'd rather not go through those unless the steps above fail because they have some other small ramifications.

Well, I played quite a bit with my setup actually, and I've also downloaded a couple of other TTS engines for my phone (Ivona, SVOX, Cereproc).

Thru these TTS apps, I was able to download a couple of other "voices".. I'm not a 100% happy with the one I have now, but a least its UK male.

After that, I found out that if I put my android phone on "SILENT" mode (doesn't work for some reason in mode "vibrate only mode"), then I don't get those annoying beeps.


The last detail that I'm trying to find a way to tweek is, when you activate the "listen" mode on Zandra the phone vibrate for maybe half a second, I'd really really really like to find a way to turn that off.


Nowhere in the app setting or in my general phone setting can I turn that off completly.

I've actually installed 3 differents other apps that each were supposed to give me FULL control on PERMISSIONS in the phone, ultimely allowing me to turn OFF the permission of Zandra to access the vibrate function of the phone.. but so far, no luck


You seem like you know you way very well around a smartphone, is there something that you can think of that could help me?


I'll give a look at Utter! tomorrow too
 
Yes, I've been tinkering with Android devices since 2009 so I know them very well (rooting, romming, decompiling/recompiling apks, etc). As far as disabling the vibrate function, it is not Zandra that is causing the vibrate. It is the default behavior of the Google Voice input. So the easiest way to solve this would be to actually use the app you have to disable vibrate permissions to the Google Search app (I believe this is where voice input is housed -- but you could try the google keyboard apk as well). I am assuming you are rooted as I don't think that app will work without root permissions.

I've tried a lot of the UK voices and still like the pre-November Google TTS UK male the best for a Jarvis replacement. I've heard "William" from Cereproc works well too though (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cereproc.William).
 
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