Amazon Echo becomes a charming animatronic robot
Amazon Echo becomes a charming animatronic robot
Arduino Team — July 4, 2023
There's no shame in taking advantage of a voice-assisted device, like an Amazon Echo with Alexa. These devices are useful and can add real convenience to your life. But they lack personality and a sense of soul, not only because of the stilted voices, but also because of the boring industrial designs meant to appeal to the mass market. To breathe some life into his Amazon Echo, Thomas Burns of YouTube channel Workshop Nation turned it into a charming animatronic robot.
At its heart, it's still an Amazon Echo and it retains all those features. But Alexa's brain now inhabits a body that looks like it was created by a wacky scientist from an '80s movie starring robot hijinks. It was cobbled together from salvaged parts, such as an old CRT television, as well as new components. He has 3D printed animatronic eyes based on a design by Will Cogley and powered by servo motors. Something resembling a voice waveform appears on the CRT whenever Alexa speaks, which works by using this signal voltage to drive one of the electron beam coils.
An Arduino Mega 2560 board controls the animatronics and also monitors a Useful Sensors person sensor. Its purpose is to direct eye movement to track anyone in the area. The Arduino also allows users to bypass the normal "Alexa" wake word so they can ask questions starting with whatever term they prefer. These components (most of which belong to the CRT) all mount to a clear, laser-cut acrylic frame and threaded rods.
The result is a contraption that combines all the convenience of a modern voice assistant with the aesthetic appeal of a science fair reject.
Arduino Team — July 4, 2023
There's no shame in taking advantage of a voice-assisted device, like an Amazon Echo with Alexa. These devices are useful and can add real convenience to your life. But they lack personality and a sense of soul, not only because of the stilted voices, but also because of the boring industrial designs meant to appeal to the mass market. To breathe some life into his Amazon Echo, Thomas Burns of YouTube channel Workshop Nation turned it into a charming animatronic robot.
At its heart, it's still an Amazon Echo and it retains all those features. But Alexa's brain now inhabits a body that looks like it was created by a wacky scientist from an '80s movie starring robot hijinks. It was cobbled together from salvaged parts, such as an old CRT television, as well as new components. He has 3D printed animatronic eyes based on a design by Will Cogley and powered by servo motors. Something resembling a voice waveform appears on the CRT whenever Alexa speaks, which works by using this signal voltage to drive one of the electron beam coils.
An Arduino Mega 2560 board controls the animatronics and also monitors a Useful Sensors person sensor. Its purpose is to direct eye movement to track anyone in the area. The Arduino also allows users to bypass the normal "Alexa" wake word so they can ask questions starting with whatever term they prefer. These components (most of which belong to the CRT) all mount to a clear, laser-cut acrylic frame and threaded rods.
The result is a contraption that combines all the convenience of a modern voice assistant with the aesthetic appeal of a science fair reject.
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