Summary of NIGHTMARE FUEL TELEPRESENCE ‘BOT MAY BECOME YOUR LAST FRIEND
During the pandemic, Hunter Irving and his brother built TELEBOT, a terrifying telepresence robot combining Castaway's Wilson with Saw movie aesthetics. Made of glow-in-the-dark PLA, it uses an Arduino Uno to control vintage doll eyes and wind-up teeth based on friends' voice volume during video chats. To mitigate uncanny valley effects, they printed tiny hats for the device.
Parts used in the TELEBOT:
- Arduino Uno
- Servo motors
- Vintage doll eyes
- Glow-in-the-dark PLA
- Tiny hats
After this pandemic thing is all said and done, historians will look back on this period from many different perspectives. The one we’re most interested in of course will concern the creativity that flourished in the petri dish of anxiety, stress, and boredom that have come as unwanted side dishes to stay-at-home orders.
[Hunter Irving] and his brother were really missing their friends, so they held a very exclusive hackathon and built a terrifying telepresence robot that looks like a mash-up of Wilson from Castaway and that swirly-cheeked tricycle-riding thing from the Saw movies. Oh, and to make things even worse, it’s made of glow-in-the-dark PLA.
Now when they video chat with friends, TELEBOT is there to make it feel as though that person is in the room with them. The Arduino Uno behind its servo-manipulated vintage doll eyes uses the friend’s voice input to control the wind-up teeth based on their volume levels. As you might imagine, their friends had some uncanny valley issues with TELEBOT, so they printed a set of tiny hats that actually do kind of make it all better. Check out the build/demo video after the break if you think you can handle it.
Not creepy enough for you? Try building your own eyes from the ground up.
Source: NIGHTMARE FUEL TELEPRESENCE ‘BOT MAY BECOME YOUR LAST FRIEND
- What inspired the design of TELEBOT?
The creators combined the look of Wilson from Castaway with a tricycle-riding character from the Saw movies. - How does the robot respond to voice input?
The Arduino Uno uses voice levels to control the wind-up teeth movement. - What material is the robot primarily constructed from?
The body is made of glow-in-the-dark PLA plastic. - Why were tiny hats added to the project?
Hats were printed to help reduce the uncanny valley issues caused by the robot's appearance. - Can users build their own eyes for this project?
Yes, the article suggests building your own eyes from the ground up if the standard ones are not creepy enough. - Who created the TELEBOT robot?
Hunter Irving and his brother built the robot while missing their friends during the pandemic.
