If you're looking at a doll that you'll have to replicate, use Sculpey material for your prototypes (unless it's a soft cloth doll.) Craft stores also have molds that you can "press and bake" to get body parts looking right (and faces) without spending years on sculpting.

> through. So far, in scanning, I've seen
> nothing on the "talking device"
> we'll need to make the doll
> "speak".

I've done this. Basically, what you need is a sound chip. I've gotten one at Radio Shack (get one to play with. Once you experiment, you can then go for the cheaper stuff.)

Here's a page on sounds for robots (this is what you'll basically look for): http://www.finitesite.com/robasic/sound.htm

(this one will cross your eyes):
http://zeppelin.tzo.cc/coco/features/speechsound.html

Here's some types of voice record and playback chips:
http://www.winbond-usa.com/products/isd_products/chipcorder/datasheets/

I beleive the Radio Shack chip is called the ISD1000A Voice record/play chip -- but I wouldn't stake my paycheck on it.

There's cheaper chips available, but as I said, you'll want one to experiment with and the Radio Shack ones are just dead simple to install. I did a soft dinosaur sculpture with a sound chip in its tummy. Great fun to do!

You'll need to look at the size of the board and encase it in a "project box." Batteries are a factor, too, so be sure you can easily swap them out.


The 5 Minute Mentor