Tag Archives: Macintosh

These Furby-‘controlled’ Raspberry Pi-powered eyes follow you

Post Syndicated from Ashley Whittaker original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/these-furby-controlled-raspberry-pi-powered-eyes-follow-you/

Sam Battle aka LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER couldn’t resist splashing out on a clear Macintosh case for a new project in his ‘Cosmo’ series of builds, which inject new life into retro hardware.

furby facial recognition robot in a clear case in front of a dark background
AAGGGGHHHHHHH!

This time around, a Raspberry Pi, running facial recognition software, and one of our Camera Modules enable Furby-style eyes to track movement, detect faces, and follow you around the room.

Give LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER a follow on YouTube

He loves a good Furby does Sam. Has a whole YouTube playlist dedicated to projects featuring them. Seriously.

Raspberry Pi  with camera module attached to small screen loading software needed to run face recognition
Sam got all the Raspberry Pi kit needed from Pimoroni

Our favourite bit of the video is when Sam meets Raspberry Pi for the first time, boots it up, and says:

“Wait, I didn’t know it was a computer. It’s an actual computer computer. What?!”

face recognition software running on small screen with raspberry pi camera behind it, looking at the maker
Face recognition software up and running on Raspberry Pi

The eyes are ping pong balls cut in half so you can fit a Raspberry Pi Camera Module inside them. (Don’t forget to make a hole in the ‘pupil’ so the lens can peek through).

Maker inserting raspberry pi camera module inside a sliced ping pong ball. You can see the ribbons of the camera module sticking out of the ping pong ball half
Raspberry Pi Camera Module tucked inside ping pong ball as it’s mounted to a 3D-printed part

The Raspberry Pi and display screen are neatly mounted on the side of the Macintosh so they’re easily accessible should you need to make any changes.

Raspberry Pi and display screen mounted on the side of a clear macintosh frame
Easy access

All the hacked, repurposed junky bits sit inside or are mounted on swish 3D-printed parts.

Add some joke shop chatterbox teeth, and you’ve got what looks like the innards of a Furby staring at you. See below for a harrowing snapshot of Zach’s ‘Furlexa’ project, featured on our blog last year. We still see it when we sleep.

It gets worse the more you look around

It wasn’t enough for Furby-mad Sam to have created a Furby look-a-like face-tracking robot, he needed to go further. Inside the clear Macintosh case, you can see a de-furred Furby skeleton atop a 3D-printed plinth, with redundant ribbon cables flowing from its eyes into the back of the face-tracking robot face, thus making it appear as though the Furby is the brains behind this creepy creation that is following your every move.

a side view of the entire build with a furby skeleton visible inside
Hey in there. We see you! You dark lord of robo-controlling

Eventually, Sam’s Raspberry Pi–powered creation will be on display at the Museum of Everything Else, so you can go visit it and play with all the “obsolete and experimental technology” housed there. The museum is funded by the Look Mum No Computer Patreon page.

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