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Master's Thesis
Author of thesis: Bc. Filip Maliňák
Acad. year: 2025/2026
Supervisor: Ing. Martin Appel, Ph.D.
Reviewer: Ing. Martin Formánek, Ph.D.
This master’s thesis deals with the design, assembly and programming of a speaking animatronic robotic head based on the Raspberry Pi platform. The aim of the thesis is to create a functional laboratory prototype capable of detecting and tracking a human face using a camera, turning its eyes and head towards the detected person, and communicating by voice in the Czech language. The system includes a camera pipeline for face detection, a geometric conversion of the face position in the image into the required gaze direction, a motion layer for servo motor control, and a voice pipeline using speech-to-text, a language model and speech synthesis services. The thesis describes the system requirements, mechanical construction, power supply, software architecture, integration of external AI services and the method of passing a structured response from the language model to the voice and motion outputs. The se- lection of specific services for speech recognition, response generation and speech synthesis was supported by comparative measurements of latency, quality and operating costs. The final prototype uses Speechmatics for speech recognition, the GPT-4o mini model for response generation and Google Chirp 3 HD for Czech speech synthesis. The result of the thesis is a functional physical prototype of a robotic head intended as a laboratory AI doorman and a mechatronic demonstrator combining mechanical design, electronics, camera-based perception, motion control and artificial intelligence service.
animatronic robot head, Raspberry Pi, face detection, servo control, speech-to-text, lan- guage model, text-to-speech, artificial intelligence
Date of defence
17.06.2026
Result of the defence
Defended (thesis was successfully defended)
Grading
A
Process of defence
Při obhajobě student nejprve prezentoval svoji diplomovou práci, následně byly přečteny posudky a student odpovídal na dotazy oponenta. Poté byly členy komise položeny následující otázky: Dá se latence srazit dolů? Jak je řešen pohyb motorů? Pomohli by práci AI akcelerátory? Co plánujete dát na vrchní část zařízení? Obhajoba byla komisí hodnocena jako výborná.
Language of thesis
Czech
Faculty
Fakulta strojního inženýrství
Department
Institute of Solid Mechanics, Mechatronics and Biomechanics
Study programme
Mechatronics (N-MET-P)
Composition of Committee
RNDr. Vladimír Opluštil (předseda) doc. Ing. Robert Grepl, Ph.D. (místopředseda) doc. Ing. Jiří Krejsa, Ph.D. (člen) doc. Ing. Radoslav Cipín, Ph.D. (člen) Ing. Dalibor Červinka, Ph.D. (člen) Ing. Michal Bastl, Ph.D. (člen) Ing. Peter Zavadinka, Ph.D. (člen)
Supervisor’s reportIng. Martin Appel, Ph.D.
Grade proposed by supervisor: A
Reviewer’s reportIng. Martin Formánek, Ph.D.
Grade proposed by reviewer: A
Responsibility: Mgr. et Mgr. Hana Odstrčilová