“You Are My Friend”: Early Androids and Artificial Speech

I thought this would be about the TTS system in early versions of Android.

This is very much a tangent inspired by the title: Where can i best keep track of what is going on in embodied AI? I feel there's been a lot of development there recently but I've lost track and I'm not sure which companies besides the big ones are working on interesting solutions?

Pre-silicon automatons are on my shortlist of things to buy/commission and play with if I ever somehow become a billionaire.

The writer automaton is something I've been utterly fascinated by for decades. It feels anachronistic; people without silicon chips and transistors shouldn't have automatic programmable robots! It required a level of genius that I'll never have but can really appreciate.

We take for granted how comparatively easy transistors made everything. I love seeing people's workarounds to try and reach the future.

Just bought these two books… I’ve been collecting early works in AI. These are early!