<s>
Votrax	B-Application
International	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
(	O
originally	O
the	O
Vocal	O
division	O
of	O
Federal	O
Screw	O
Works	O
)	O
,	O
or	O
just	O
Votrax	B-Application
,	O
was	O
a	O
speech	B-Application
synthesis	I-Application
company	O
located	O
in	O
the	O
Detroit	B-Application
,	O
Michigan	B-Device
area	O
from	O
1971	O
to	O
1996	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1974	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
given	O
the	O
Votrax	B-Application
name	O
(	O
taken	O
from	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
its	O
first	O
commercial	O
product	O
,	O
the	O
model	O
VS4	O
"	O
Votrax	B-Application
"	O
)	O
and	O
moved	O
to	O
Troy	O
,	O
Michigan	B-Device
and	O
,	O
in	O
1980	O
,	O
split	O
off	O
of	O
its	O
parent	O
company	O
entirely	O
and	O
became	O
Votrax	B-Application
International	O
,	O
Inc.	O
,	O
which	O
produced	O
speech	O
products	O
up	O
until	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1987	O
,	O
Votrax	B-Application
merged	O
with	O
Vynet	O
Corp.	O
,	O
a	O
voice-recognition	O
prompt	O
pioneer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
remained	O
Votrax	B-Application
inc	O
.	O
until	O
about	O
1992	O
,	O
when	O
it	O
was	O
renamed	O
to	O
or	O
otherwise	O
merged	O
with	O
Vysion	O
,	O
Inc.	O
,	O
a	O
maker	O
of	O
security	O
cameras	O
and	O
other	O
related	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Maxxar	O
owned	O
the	O
rights	O
to	O
the	O
Votrax	B-Application
name	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
trademark	O
lapsed	O
on	O
March	O
11	O
,	O
2016	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
the	O
Votrax	B-Application
speech	B-Application
synthesizers	I-Application
owe	O
their	O
existence	O
to	O
the	O
speech	B-Application
synthesizer	I-Application
design	O
created	O
in	O
1970	O
by	O
Richard	O
T	O
.	O
Gagnon	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1984	O
,	O
Votrax	B-Application
either	O
declared	O
bankruptcy	O
or	O
came	O
close	O
to	O
doing	O
so	O
,	O
and	O
restructured	O
itself	O
as	O
a	O
commercial	O
phone-interface	O
provider	O
,	O
and	O
hence	O
produced	O
no	O
new	O
consumer	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
restructuring	O
,	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
existing	O
staff	O
was	O
downsized	O
off	O
,	O
including	O
Tim	O
Gargagliano	O
and	O
Kathryn	O
F	O
.	O
Gargagliano	O
,	O
who	O
along	O
with	O
two	O
other	O
former	O
Votrax	B-Application
employees	O
,	O
Art	O
Velthoven	O
and	O
Dale	O
McDaniel	O
,	O
started	O
Artic	O
Technologies	O
in	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1987	O
,	O
Votrax	B-Application
merged	O
with	O
Vynet	O
Corp	O
and	O
the	O
product	O
lines	O
of	O
both	O
companies	O
were	O
combined	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Votrax	B-Application
was	O
responsible	O
for	O
designing	O
and	O
manufacturing	O
several	O
important	O
early	O
speech	B-Application
synthesizer	I-Application
back-ends	O
,	O
and	O
several	O
widely	O
used	O
integrated	O
circuit	O
phoneme	B-Language
synthesizers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Votrax	B-Application
produced	O
speech	O
backend	O
modules	O
and	O
cards	O
for	O
various	O
personal	O
computers	O
,	O
and	O
worked	O
with	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
Naval	O
Research	O
Laboratory	O
(	O
NRL	O
)	O
to	O
create	O
an	O
extensible	O
speech	O
frontend	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Votrax	B-Application
's	O
speech	O
technology	O
was	O
also	O
used	O
by	O
3rd	O
parties	O
in	O
several	O
arcade	O
games	O
,	O
Gottlieb	O
System	O
80	O
pinball	B-Application
machines	O
,	O
and	O
talking	O
terminals	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Votrax	B-Application
synthesizer	O
was	O
used	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
text-to-speech	B-Application
subsystem	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
generation	O
Kurzweil	O
Reading	O
Machine	O
for	O
the	O
Blind	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
1970s	O
,	O
Votrax	B-Application
produced	O
a	O
series	O
of	O
discrete	O
speech	B-Application
synthesizers	I-Application
,	O
with	O
epoxy-coated	O
boards	O
to	O
thwart	O
people	O
copying	O
their	O
designs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1980	O
,	O
they	O
designed	O
and	O
manufactured	O
an	O
integrated	O
circuit	O
speech	B-Application
synthesizer	I-Application
called	O
the	O
SC-01	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Votrax	B-Application
continued	O
to	O
intermittently	O
sell	O
SC-01-A	O
and	O
SC-02	O
synthesis	O
chips	O
,	O
and	O
Personal	O
Speech	O
System	O
text	B-Application
to	I-Application
speech	I-Application
units	O
until	O
at	O
least	O
October	O
1990	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
early	O
in	O
its	O
life	O
,	O
Votrax	B-Application
specialized	O
in	O
making	O
phoneme-based	O
speech	B-Application
synthesizers	I-Application
and	O
text-to-speech	B-Application
algorithms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
popular	O
United	O
States	O
Naval	O
Research	O
Laboratory	O
,	O
or	O
"	O
NRL	O
"	O
text-to-phoneme	O
algorithm	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
a	O
collaboration	O
between	O
Votrax	B-Application
and	O
the	O
NRL	O
in	O
1973	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
algorithm	O
and	O
variants	O
of	O
it	O
were	O
used	O
on	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
text-to-speech	B-Application
devices	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Votrax	B-Application
Type	O
'	O
N	O
Talk	O
,	O
the	O
Votrax	B-Application
Personal	O
Speech	O
System	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
General	O
Instruments	O
CTS256A-AL2	O
text-to-allophone	O
chip	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Votrax	B-Application
also	O
supplied	O
the	O
SC-02	O
speech	O
chip	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
amateur	O
radio	O
'	O
DOVE-OSCAR	O
17	O
 '	O
or	O
'	O
DOVE	O
 '	O
Microsatellite	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
M	O
.	O
D	O
.	O
McIlroy	O
used	O
a	O
"	O
Votrax	B-Application
"	O
branded	O
"	O
Federal	O
Screw	O
Works	O
"	O
synth	O
,	O
a	O
single	O
potted	O
block	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
'	O
Screw	O
Works	O
 '	O
backend	O
for	O
the	O
Unix	B-Application
'	O
speak	B-Device
 '	O
command	O
on	O
Unix	B-Application
V1/2/3/4	O
in	O
1972/1973	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
essentially	O
consist	O
of	O
a	O
board	O
with	O
Motorola	O
MC6802	B-Device
microprocessor	O
,	O
a	O
4K	O
ROM	O
,	O
some	O
74	O
's	O
TTL	O
chip	O
,	O
a	O
Motorola	O
6850	O
(	O
ACIA	O
)	O
for	O
RS-232	O
communication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Inside	O
the	O
epoxy-covered	O
blackbox	O
there	O
are	O
4	O
small	O
74s	O
 '	O
TTL	O
chips	O
,	O
a	O
Zilog	B-General_Concept
Z80	I-General_Concept
microprocessor	O
,	O
and	O
two	O
8K	O
EPROM	O
and	O
the	O
synth	O
chip	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Votalker	O
IB	O
2000	O
(	O
Very	O
Small	O
Production	O
Run	O
)	O
,	O
6511	O
based	O
software	O
ISA	B-Architecture
card	I-Architecture
for	O
IBM-PC	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scott	O
Adams	O
,	O
who	O
pioneered	O
text	O
adventures	O
for	O
home	O
computers	O
,	O
implemented	O
support	O
of	O
Votrax	B-Application
speech	O
in	O
VIC-20	B-Device
porting	O
of	O
some	O
of	O
his	O
adventures	O
,	O
like	O
Adventureland	B-Application
(	O
VIC-1914	O
)	O
and	O
Voodoo	B-Application
Castle	I-Application
(	O
VIC-1918	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
