NTT Talking Robot

These videos illustrate a talking robot developed by NTT Japan circa 2003. The first video shows the vocal folds of the robot, which are made of rubber and driven by a piston pushing air through the folds. Actuators move the folds together to produce voicing, then pull them apart for silence.

The second video shows the robot’s lips (left) and tongue profile (right), also made from special rubber materials, while producing the utterance “hassei”.

[Videos courtesy of NTT Laboratories.]