JPH0313355Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an animal toy, and more particularly, to an animal toy that can distinguish human speech and perform predetermined actions in response.

There are already some known animal toys and running toys that perform predetermined actions in response to sound, but conventional toys of this kind have a structure that only operates in response to the presence or absence of sound or the volume of the sound. As an input means for making toys move in response to sounds,
Humans only had simple actions such as clapping their hands or making loud noises, and the actions of animals and other toys that responded to these actions were also relatively simple.

The animal toy according to the present invention is different from the above-mentioned conventional animal toy that only responds to simple sounds, and can perform predetermined actions corresponding to the voice when a human gives a verbal command. can be,
Therefore, the movements of such animal toys resemble those of real animals, and are extremely interesting and interesting.

According to the present invention, a voice recognition device equipped with a memory device is installed in an animal toy, a reference voice is registered in the memory device in advance, and a voice command issued to the toy is compared with the reference voice. The output signal drives the power transmission mechanism to perform a plurality of predetermined operations.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the direction of rotation of one DC motor, which is one of the drive sources, is changed by the output signal to perform various operations corresponding to the voice command.

Furthermore, in another embodiment, the animal toy is shaped like a dog and has movable limbs, and can perform various movements such as walking, sitting, and standing within the range of movement of the limbs. This is done by the power transmission mechanism described above.

In addition, in the dog toy as a specific embodiment of the present invention described below, it is not necessary to use a highly accurate (and therefore expensive) device as a voice recognition device. This is because even if there is a mistake in identifying the sound, it is rather accepted as a sign of the dog's charm, and has the effect of making the dog look humorous.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing the electrical configuration of an animal toy according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this diagram, microphone 1 says "walk", "sit", "stop",
When a voice command such as "Scream" is input, the voice command signal is input to the amplifier circuit 3 via the DC cut capacitor 2. This amplifier circuit 3 has a resistor 4
a to 4f, capacitors 5a to 5e, and amplifier 6
a and 6b, and amplifies the voice command signal and sends the signal to the voice recognition computer 7 in the subsequent stage. This voice recognition computer 7 sequentially compares the voice signal with a pre-registered voice signal group (signals registered by a specific speaker and an unspecified speaker), and only when both the voice signals match, the voice recognition This is a device that outputs a signal corresponding to a voice command, and its details are configured as shown in FIG. 2A, for example.

That is, an A/D converter 21 that digitally converts an input voice signal, and a read-only memory in which a voice recognition program shown in FIG. 2B and data obtained by digitizing a voice signal of an unspecified speaker are stored in advance. A device (ROM) 22, a constant speed retrieval storage device (RAM) 23 in which data obtained by digitizing the audio signal of a specific speaker is stored, and an I/O port 24a that performs data communication between the inside and outside of the computer 7. , 24b, and a CPU 25 which performs signal processing within the computer 7 and performs comparison operations between input audio signals and audio signals stored in the ROM 22 and RAM 23.

The CPU 25 includes an ALU for performing calculations, an accumulator for calculation processing, an instruction decoder for canceling instructions, a program counter for holding addresses for instruction execution, and various registers for temporarily storing input signals. etc. (not shown). As mentioned above, the data for unspecified speakers is stored in the ROM 22 in advance, and the voice of a specific speaker is recorded when registering the voice.
Since it is stored in the RAM 23, speech recognition can be performed for both specific and unspecified speakers.

Also, among the voice commands, the command signals for "walk", "sit", and "stop" are output from the I/O port 24a side, and the command signals for "scream" and "stop bark" are output from the I/O port 24a.
The signal is output from the port 4b side.
For example, when a voice command such as "walk" is input to the microphone 1, the voice signal is converted into digital data by the A/D converter 21, and a comparison operation is executed according to the program shown in FIG. 2B stored in the ROM 22. When the data stored in the ROM 22 or RAM 23 matches the input data, a binary digital signal corresponding to the input command (for example, "01") is sent to the I/O port 24.
Output from a. In this case, if you set it so that the signal "01" is output in the same way as above when synonyms such as "come, come", "go", "come", etc. are uttered, then the expressions will be different. The animals can also be made to perform the same movements, making them more interesting as animal toys.

I/O ports 24a, 2 of the computer 7
The output of 4b is sent to drive circuit 9 via backflow prevention diodes 8a to 8d shown in FIG. This drive circuit 9 includes the I/O ports 24a, 24
It is a circuit that decodes the output signal of b and generates a drive signal for operating the subsequent drive section 11,
Motor drive IC1 with two identical functions
It is composed of 0a and 10b. The drive unit 11 includes, for example, DC motors 12a, 12b and their power transmission mechanisms 13a, 13b.
Toys are made to perform actions corresponding to voice commands such as "sit,""stop," and "scream." In this embodiment, the motor 12a and power transmission mechanism 13a are responsible for actions such as "walking" and "sitting", and the motor 12b and power transmission mechanism 13b are responsible for "screaming" actions.

Here, the motor drive IC 10a is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, it is comprised of a decoder 14 that decodes the output signal of the computer 7 and produces one output, and four bridge-connected transistors 15-18. still,
The power supply terminal 19 is connected to a motor drive power supply (not shown).

Now, when the decoder 14 receives a signal "01" corresponding to "walk", the output terminal 14a of the decoder 14 goes to "H" level and the output terminal 14b goes to "L" level.
level, so that transistors 15 and 18 are turned on and transistors 16 and 17 are turned off. This allows transistor 1 to be connected to the motor drive power supply.
5 -> IC output terminal 20a -> motor 12a -> IC output terminal 20b -> transistor 18 -> Since the driving power flows to the ground G side, the motor 12a rotates in the forward direction. Then, the power transmission mechanism 13a on the motor 12a side operates, and the toy performs a walking motion.

Further, when a signal "10" corresponding to "sitting" is input to the decoder 14, the output terminal 14a
becomes "L" level, 14b becomes "H" level,
Therefore, transistors 16 and 17 are turned on and transistors 15 and 18 are turned off. As a result, from the motor drive power source, the transistor 17 → IC output terminal 20b → motor 12a → IC output terminal 20a
Since the driving current flows from the transistor 16 to the ground G side, the motor 12a rotates in the opposite direction. Then, the power transmission mechanism 13a is activated and the toy performs a "sitting" motion.

Furthermore, when a signal "00" or "11" corresponding to "stop" is input to the decoder 14, the transistors 15 to 18 are all turned off or all turned on, and the IC output terminal 20a, motor 12a and No current flows through the electric path connecting the IC output terminal 20b, and therefore the motor 12a stops rotating. As a result, the power transmission mechanism 13a does not operate, and the operation of the toy is stopped.

Further, when the command "squeak" is input, a signal "0" corresponding to "squeak" is input from the I/O port 24b side of the computer 7 to the motor drive IC 10b side. Then, the IC 10b operates in the same manner as the IC 10a to rotate the DC motor 12b. This causes the power transmission mechanism 13b connected to the motor 12b to operate, causing the toy to make a "squeak" action.

Next, we will discuss the mechanical configuration of the above embodiment in the fourth section.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS.

FIGS. 4A to 4D are perspective views showing each operation mode of 26 animal toys. That is, FIG. 4A shows actions corresponding to voice commands such as "Walk,""B""Stop,""C""Sit," and "D""Scream."

To further explain each of the above figures, 27 is a trunk, 28a and 28b are front limbs, 28c and 28d are hind limbs, 29 is a head, and 30 is a tail. Each part is covered with a plastic frame which is movable by a drive mechanism and curved into a predetermined shape, and the outside of the frame is covered with a flexible cloth with flocked hair.
That is, inside the body 27, a voice recognition device consisting of the microphone 1, the voice recognition computer 7, etc. described above, a battery (not shown) as a drive source, and DC motors 12a, 12b are housed in each case. These drive sources operate the front and rear limbs 28a to 28d in conjunction with each other via a power transmission mechanism to be described later, thereby performing walking motion, walking stop motion, sitting motion, tail swaying, and vocalization. It is something you can do.

Hereinafter, the configuration of each part will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5A, B to 7A, B.

First, in FIG. 5, long holes 33, 33 are formed in the proximal ends of the forelimbs 28a, 28b, respectively. The support shaft 34 is fitted.
Furthermore, crank parts 35a, 35a provided at both ends of a walking shaft 35 shown in FIG. rotates and performs walking motion.

Further, the hind limbs 28c and 28d are the forelimb parts 28a,
It operates in conjunction with 28b. In other words, the rear leg portion 28
The intermediate portions of C and 28D are pivotally supported by crank portions 36a and 36a at both ends of a support shaft 36 shown in FIG. 6A, and swing around these for walking motion. Hind limbs 28c, 28d and forelimbs 28
a and 28b are connected by left and right connecting rods 37, 37.

That is, the front end of each connecting rod 37, 37 is connected to the crank part 35a, 3 at the intermediate part of the forelimb part 28a, 28b.
5a, and the rear end is supported by a hind limb part 28c,
It is pivotally supported by a walking shaft 38 at the upper end of 28d. Therefore, when the left and right forelimbs 28a and 28b swing back and forth to perform a walking motion, the left and right hindlimbs 28c and 28d also move in conjunction with each other via the connecting rods 37 and 37 to perform a walking motion.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the sitting motion can be caused by the above-mentioned voice command. That is,
This animal toy has two motors 12 as driving sources.
By rotating one of the motors 12a and 12b in the opposite direction, the large parts of the hind limbs 28c and 28d are rotated, and the rear part of the torso is lowered to perform a sitting motion.

To explain this below, in FIG. 5 and FIG.
The hind limbs 28 are pivotally supported by crank parts 36a, 36a at both ends of the hind limbs 28 and 36a, and are used as fulcrums when walking.
c and 28d swing, and by rotating the crank parts 36a and 36a forward about this support shaft 36, the sitting motion is performed. And the spindle 3
Swinging of the crank portions 36a, 36a in the front and rear directions of the crank portions 36a, 36a is performed by a moving lever 40 whose rear end is pivoted to the crank portion 36a on one side.
In order to maintain the state in which the crank parts 36a, 36a swing forward or backward, a spring 39 that moves back and forth beyond the dead center is used as the crank parts 36a, 36a swing back and forth. It is.

To explain further, a long hole 41 is formed in the front end side of the moving lever 40, and a seventh hole 41 is formed in this long hole 41.
The ends of the shaft 42 are fitted as shown in the figure.
Furthermore, a support shaft 4 is provided approximately in the middle of the moving lever 40.
3 is provided, and a moving lever 40 is provided via this support shaft 43.
One end of the arm member 44 is pivotally supported overlapping the arm member 44. A recess 44a is formed on the upper surface side of the distal end of the arm member 44, and a protrusion 45a of the rotary plate 45 attached to the shaft 42 can be engaged with the recess 44a at a predetermined swing angle when the arm member 44 rotates. It's summery. Further, a coil spring 48 is tensioned between a hook portion 46 provided at the other end of the arm member 44 and a hook portion 47 provided on the moving lever 40, and the tensile force of the coil spring 48 causes the recess 44a to 45a so as to fit therein.

Therefore, when the animal toy is walking, the rotating plate 45, which is interlocked with a gear mechanism described later, continuously rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 7, and at this time, the protrusion 44a
The arm member 44, which is pivotally supported by a support shaft 43, swings downward against the spring 48 and rotates while being released. Moreover, at this time, the rear limbs 28c and 28d are rotated by the crank portions 36a and 36a at both ends of the support shaft 36, which is the swinging fulcrum.
36a is at a position where it has stopped rotating by a predetermined angle toward the rear (that is, this is the standing posture of the animal). At this time,
The spring 39 whose lower end is engaged with the crank portions 36a, 36a of the support shaft 36 and whose upper end is engaged with the hook 49 is located on the rear side of the support shaft 36,
Therefore, the crank portions 36a, 36a of the support shaft 36 are held in the position shown in FIG. 7A for walking motion.

However, when the aforementioned voice command is given, for example, "sit down," the aforementioned voice recognition device issues a predetermined output signal to reversely rotate the DC motor 12a. As a result, the rotary plate 45 rotates in the opposite direction, that is, clockwise in FIG. The connected moving lever 40 is moved to the left in FIG. 7A, and is displaced to the state shown in FIG. 7B. At this time, the spring 39 once expands and moves beyond the dead point to the front side of the support shaft 36, so that the rear part of the animal's body lowers under its own weight and becomes in a "sitting" state. Thereafter, the rotary plate 45 continuously rotates in the clockwise direction, and at this time, in the state shown in FIG. 7B, the protrusion 45a slightly fits into the recess 44a of the arm member 44, and rotates while releasing the recess 44a downward.

Next, in order to stand up again from the above-mentioned "sitting" state, it is recommended to issue a voice command such as "walk" or "stand", which causes the motor 12a to
rotates counterclockwise in the state shown in Figure 7B,
By engaging with the recess 44a of the arm member 44, the arm member 44
and the integrated moving lever 40 via the support shaft 43.
7 to the right in Figure B, thereby again
The robot stands up and assumes a walking posture as shown in Figure A.

As mentioned above, in response to a voice command such as "walk" or "sit", the drive motor 12a and the rotary plate 45 interlocked with the drive motor 12a rotate forward and backward, and the moving lever 40 accordingly moves in the left-right direction in FIG. , and displaces the crank portions 36a, 36a at both ends of the support shafts 36 of the hind limbs 28c, 28d to the positions shown in FIG. 7A and B, thereby changing the animal toy's walking and sitting postures. Furthermore, at this time, the spring 39 moves forward and backward beyond the support shaft 36, which is the dead point, so that each posture can be maintained smoothly. The reason why the shaft end 42 of the rotating plate 45 is inserted into the long hole 41 at the tip of the moving lever 40 is to regulate the moving range and moving direction of the moving lever 40.

Next, referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B, the front and rear limbs 2
A mechanism for transmitting power to 8a, 28b, 28c, and 28d will be explained.

First, the pinion 50 of the drive motor 12a meshes with a large gear 52 fixed to one end of the intermediate shaft 51. Two further gears 53 and 54 are provided on the intermediate shaft 51.
The gear 54 is attached to the shaft 55.
It meshes with a gear 56 fixed to. A small gear 57 is further fixed to the shaft 55, and this gear meshes with a gear 58 pivotally attached to the walking shaft 35. Therefore, when the DC motor 12a rotates in the forward direction, the walking shaft 35 rotates through the power transmission mechanism using the gear train, and the forelimbs 28a, 28b and the hindlimbs 28c, 28 are rotated through the crank parts 35a, 35a.
d makes a walking motion.

On the other hand, the gear 53 pivotally attached to the intermediate shaft 51 is
It meshes with a gear 60 fixed to the shaft 59. axis 6
A pinion 61 is also pivotally attached to the pinion 0, and a gear 62 fixed to a shaft 42 to which a rotary plate 45 is attached meshes with the pinion 61.

Next, the mechanism by which a dog makes a bark and the mechanism by which it moves its tail will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

In the figure, a sound generating device 63 is provided within the head 29 of the dog. In the embodiment, the sound generating device 63 is composed of a bellows 64 and a rattle-shaped whistle 65 communicating with the inside of the bellows, and by expanding and contracting the bellows 64, the whistle 65 emits a dog barking sound.

The operating rod 66 expands and contracts the bellows 64.
It is. In other words, the operating rod 66 extends from the dog's body 27 to the inside of the dog's head 29, and the engagement shaft 67 provided at its tip is provided to push the end of the bellows 64, while the other operating rod 66 At the end is Figure 5 B.
A hook-shaped engagement hole 68 shown in FIG.
8 includes a crank portion 6 of a drive shaft 69 shown in FIG. 6A.
9a is fitted. Further, the upper end of a spring 70 is engaged with approximately the middle portion of the operating rod 66 to apply a downward spring force. The gear 72 fixed to the drive shaft 69 has gears 74 and 75 fixed to the shaft 73,
It is interlocked with the motor pinion 71 of the DC motor 12b via a gear train such as gears 77 and 78 fixed to the shaft 76.

Therefore, the drive shaft 69 rotates and its crank portion 69a rotates, causing the operating rod 66 to reciprocate, causing the bellows 64 to expand and contract, causing the whistle 65 to emit a dog bark.

Next, the tail 30 is also operated by the crank portion 69a of the drive shaft 69, which will be explained next. As shown in FIG. 6A, the base end of the tail 30 is fixed to a shaft 79. The shaft 79 is pivotally supported at the rear end of the body frame, and a crank portion 79a is provided at one end thereof, and one end of a connecting rod 80 is pivotally supported at the tip of the crank portion 79a. A crank portion 69A of the drive shaft 69 described above is pivotally supported at the other end of the connecting rod 80. Therefore, as the crank portion 69a rotates, the connecting rod 80 also moves back and forth, and in conjunction therewith, the tail 30 also swings up and down. In FIG. 6A, 81 is a battery accommodating portion, and 81a is a battery connection terminal portion. Further, the spring 82 is connected to the rear leg portion 28
c, 28d are crank parts 36 at both ends of the walking shaft 36
This is to help maintain balance more smoothly when swinging back and forth using a and 36a as fulcrums.

In addition, in the above example, an example of a walking dog as an animal toy was shown, but this is just an example, and the animal toy may be an animal other than a dog, and the animal form is not limited to the above. . Furthermore, the driving source for each operation is not limited to the motor of the embodiment, but it is also possible to use an electromagnet or the like. Further, even when the motor is used for driving, it is not limited to forward and reverse rotation, but may perform a predetermined operation by changing the rotational speed or the like.

As explained above, according to the animal toy of the present invention, when a specific person gives a specific voice command, the animal toy behaves in accordance with the command, so it can be enjoyed as realistically as a pet. Therefore, it is possible to provide animal toys that are most suitable for infants, school children, etc.
For example, by giving an arbitrary voice command such as "walk", "cry", "sit", or "stop", the animal toy will perform the action corresponding to the voice command.
These movements make it seem as if a real animal, such as a pet dog, were following the commands of a child, making them extremely interesting animal toys that have not been seen before.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a circuit diagram showing the electrical configuration of the animal toy;
FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a computer for speech recognition, FIG. 2B is a flowchart showing part of a program executed inside the computer, and FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram explaining details of the drive circuit and drive device. 4A, B, C, and D are perspective views showing various operating modes of a dog as an example of the animal toy according to the present invention;
5A and 5B are right and left side views of the internal mechanism for causing the dog to walk, bark, and wag its tail; FIG. 6A is a plan view of the power transmission mechanism; FIG. B is a gear mechanism diagram, and FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory diagrams showing the engagement and disengagement relationship between the cam member and the arm member for making the animal sit. 1...Microphone, 3...Amplification circuit, 7...Speech recognition computer, 9...Drive circuit, 10a, 1
0b...Motor drive IC, 11...Drive device, 12a, 12b...DC motor, 13a, 1
3b...power transmission mechanism, 28a, 28b...forelimb section, 28c, 28d...hindlimb section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] a driving device comprising a DC motor and a transmission mechanism; a walking mechanism configured to connect the forelimbs and the hind limbs with a connecting rod and to be capable of walking in conjunction with the DC motor; means for storing audio signals; and an input device. a voice recognition device comprising a means for comparing and calculating a recorded voice signal with a stored voice signal, a means for outputting the voice signal as a voice signal, an input means consisting of a microphone and an amplification section, and a voice signal inputted by the input means; and a pre-stored audio signal match, the output means outputs an audio signal, the driving device is driven, and the walking mechanism is activated to perform an operation corresponding to the audio command. An animal toy characterized by: