VATS : Voice-Activated Targeting System

Abstract: Machine learning implementations in computer vision and speech recognition are wide and growing; both low- and high-level applications being required. This paper takes a look at the former and if basic implementations are good enough for real-world applications. To demonstrate this, a simple artificial neural network coded in Python and already existing libraries for Python are used to control a laser pointer via a servomotor and an Arduino, to create a voice-activated targeting system. The neural network trained on MNIST data consistently achieves an accuracy of 0.95 ± 0.01 when classifying MNIST test data, but also classifies captured images correctly if noise-levels are low. This also applies to the speech recognition, rarely giving wrong readings. The final prototype achieves success in all domains except turning the correctly classified images into targets that the Arduino can read and aim at, failing to merge the computer vision and speech recognition.