The first version of the spelling test app failed because the listening window was unclear, causing the robot to consistently mark correct spelling as wrong and frustrate the tester.
In its first live test with Scott's 9-year-old, the spelling app kept scoring correctly spelled words as wrong because the robot's listening window timing was off, leaving the child upset. ✦ AI generated
Scott · Syntax · 2026-07-17 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 10:17
what you didn't see was him spelling the words correctly over and over again and the robot consistently getting them wrong. Specifically because the window for when he was supposed to talk wasn't clear.
verbatim transcript · starts at 10:17
10:17work. So, after grinding on our spelling test for quite a while, we have something that can work that allows us to even save and restore various spelling lists. Now is the moment of truth. We're going to be giving the spelling test to my 9-year-old and see how he does. >> J U M P >> The word is jump. It is spelled J U M P. Try spelling it with me.
10:46>> I'm so mad. >> Okay, so the reviews were not glowing. He was a harsh customer, and he didn't like it. This is certainly not going to help him practice spelling, but I have some ideas on how to fix this. What if, instead of having a back and forth that took so long, we pre-rendered all of the audio, including pre-rendering any of the helpful text, any of the words that's
11:11saying you almost got it, and pre-rendered Reachy mini saying the word. That way, it's going to feel snappier back and forth. And what if we also output the letters on the screen as he was saying it? But most importantly, what if it actually worked? Because, as you saw, and honestly, what you didn't see was him spelling the words correctly over and over again and the robot consistently getting them wrong.
11:37Specifically because the window for when he was supposed to talk wasn't clear. So, I'm going to get to work on that and we're going to see if we can make my son a fan of this app. So, because of this first initial failed test, what I actually ended up doing was setting the Richie Mini in front of a computer, having that computer take the spelling test on the Richie Mini back and forth
11:59with audio and microphones, and then that way the system was able to self-heal and improve the latency using Open AI models to run the test, check the debugging information, and then fix it, test it, reiterate until now we have an app that is, I got to say, working pretty well. >> Your word is robot. The teacher asked us to spell robot. >> Um r o b o t