AI assistants have an image problem. While chatbots and virtual assistants like ChatGPT and Copilot may have their uses, there’s something cool and unforgiving about a blinking cursor and a text response. Surely we could personalize them a bit and soften those demanding, robotic edges?
What if, for example, you put one inside a cute stuffed koala bear? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Wait. Not like this.
Reddit user Spiritual_Aside_7859 created a stuffed koala bear powered by Raspberry Pi and supporting ChatGPT (via Tom’s equipment), along with motorized animations and fun LED lights. If this all sounds cute, well, wait until you see it in motion.
The project uses a Raspberry Pi combined with an Arduino Uno R4 to connect ChatGPT to the onboard hardware. This includes an ultrasonic sensor that detects objects nearby and detects people in the room.
Add to that a mini OLED monitor placed in the koala’s eye socket to get “suspicious looks” and you have less of a cuddly companion and more of something that looks like it could chase you down the hall in the middle of the night.
AI assistant With r/arduino
The bear can speak via ChatGPT responses to text messages verbalized using a text-to-speech application, although Spiritual_Aside_7859 welcomes suggestions for general design improvements.
Current future plans for the death koala – and I mean an ambitious project – include improving speech recognition and adding a mouth display. Disturbingly, Spiritual_Aside_7859 claims that the bear actually already has some form of speech recognition integration, but only seemed to hear it twice.
Misimplementation or feigned ignorance to induce a false sense of security? I’m betting on the latter.
Given that terrifyingly unsteady head movement – and the bear’s determination to make it look both curious and disapproving of humans – what has been created here seems less like a inventive combination of artificial intelligence and robotics and more something designed to scare little ones. kids. And scare adults.
At this point, I can only hope that it won’t be able to move properly, because this design gives the impression of integrating the Roomba into something that will haunt my dreams for some time.
