Inspiration
Console: Currently, during the RAM (random access storage) crisis, consoles with even base amounts of ram are reaching hundreds of dollars, and maxed of versions can surpass 2,000 dollars! I wanted to find a solution so gaming could reach mostly everyone, and even though it is basic, it can still provide lots of entertainment. iTranslate: Many videos are limited to just one language so many people around the world can't listen to videos just because of the language differences, and we really wanted to fix that.
What it does
Console: Our new K1 gaming console is a simple, reliable, and modular device that comes with four games and a basic music store installed. If you want to improve it, be free to, as it runs on a Arduino ESP32 microcontroller which is quite fast and speedy. iTranslate: iTranslate runs on free TTS, instead of pricey API keys, which allows even [kind of broke] people to use this tool. Simply install the extension and a popup will appear. The moment you start a Youtube video, iTranslate will automatically convert the video language to your preference.
How we built it
Console: Instead of bringing my physical Arduino sets, I settled on the website of Wokwi, which is the best version of a digital Arduino kit I have found so far, and I coded a bit of it. When it started getting hard, I had ChatGPT aid me in my efforts, and that's how I got to around 4,000 lines of code. I also taught about how the console should operate and how to make it safer. iTranslate: Because most AI translators and software cost money, we used text-to-speech (as mentioned earlier) and OpenAI Whisper. The extension pre-fetches the audio and captions, then uses a simple text translation model similar to Google Translate.
Challenges we ran into
Console: The games were often laggy and would fail to register the joystick. When it did register it, the joystick would often be reversed. iTranslate: The translating recorded inaccurate readings very commonly, and we had to find a way around a certain system issue. It also frequently read slower than the video played, which resulted in off-time readings.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Console: It works beautifully without lag now. iTranslate: Very accurate and works extremely well most of the time.
What we learned
Patience is key!
What's next for Console iTranslate
Console: Probably improve the music section, as they sound mostly the same. iTranslate: Improve the voice quality to make it sound more realistic and less blocky.
