Leachim was an early example of Diphone synthetic speech and demonstrated how voice branching could be done quickly via computer discs to create understandable speech (i.e. verbal output). This method combined phonemes, words, and sentences to form verbal responsive messages when prompted by the computer. The device received attention on a world-wide basis because hundreds of articles were written about it.

History

The device was developed by Michael J. Freeman and installed in robot form in a New York City School in a Fourth grade class, as a teacher's assistant. The computer had biographical information of those students whom it was programmed to teach in addition to curriculum data. Leachim could teach a number of students simultaneously through the use of headsets. Leachim remained active for three years from 1972 to 1975. On June 12, 1975, Leachim was stolen while being trucked back to NY from a 1-hour appearance on the

Phil Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'' is an American talk show that was hosted by Phil Donahue. The show ran for twenty-nine seasons from November 6, 1967, to September 13, 1996, in which it broadcast 6,715 episodes. Before it was placed in Broadcast synd ...

and despite an FBI investigation and a reward from

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

, it was not recovered. After it was stolen, Leachim built another more advanced version.

Hardware

The computer part of the robot was built from

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

Spectra 70 series of computers. Leachim could simultaneously interact with multiple students and keep track of their progress individually. Its body was made of wood and there were internal mechanics so parts such as the arms and head could move.

2-XL

Later a toy inspired version of Leachim called "2-XL Robot" was introduced. The toy was mass-produced in many countries by

Mego Corporation Mego Corporation () is an American toy company that in its original iteration was first founded in 1954. Originally known as a purveyor of dime store toys, in 1971 the company shifted direction and became famous for producing licensed action figu ...

in the 1980s and later by

Tiger Electronics Tiger Electronics Ltd. (also known as Tiger and Tiger Toys) is an American toy manufacturer best known for its handheld electronic games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games such as '' Brain Warp'' and the ...

in the 1990s.

References

{{reflist Robots Robotics Speech processing software