Gizmo Furby, when it all falls apart at the last moment
2020-Aug-08, Saturday 12:50 pmWhen we last left Gizmo they were moving and speaking. But I still wanted to wire up some of the original sensors. So I, eventually, dusted everything off and got started.
I found, like my pi radio, I couldn't even boot up the pi, so I had to install Raspbian from scratch, and give Gizmo back all their functionality. I also discovered that in the meantime the Speaker pHAT board has been retired, but the library is still up on github.
Then I could get on with the new work. Only two of the buttons remained, so I followed some tutorials on push buttons for raspberry pi and wired up the tongue button and belly button, with resistors.
The space between a Furbys eyes contains an IR transmitter, IR receiver, and photoresistor, but I only wanted to use the photoresistor, so I followed a tutorial on light sensors for raspberry pi and wired it up with a capacitor on a mini Lilypad protoboard, because apparently raspberry pis don't have analog input read?!
Then I shortened all the wires so they would fit inside Gizmo's shell, and trimmed various sticky-out bits on the inside of the carapace. Removed the back pet button lever, and widened the hole, to make room for the power cables to the raspberry pi and the motor shield. Squished all the bits and pieces inside the carapace, screwed everything up tight again. And finally, re-skinned Gizmo.
( Photos )
I got set up to take footage of the new Gizmo, and demonstrate how I am the real monster, when I noticed that Gizmo would speak, but no longer moved. Witness for yourself.
I despaired. I re-opened Gizmo again. Noticed a strange chemical smell. I disassembled and rebuilt the gear mechanism itself, three times, in case there were bits of thread or plastic lodged somewhere. Another wire to the motor broke off (most of the original wires broke at some point during the build) and I resoldered it. Then I tried to test my work, and found that once again the raspberry pi wouldn't boot. I went back over my photos, followed the links from the first post to other peoples documentation on what the insides should be like in case I messed something up. And then I noticed it. Gizmo's left eyelashes are partially melted. Gizmo's left eye is where the original motor lives. Combined with the chemical smell, I realised something is very broken. Whether it's the motor itself, or the worryingly attached capacitors, I don't know. Maybe at some point I will conduct an autopsy and try to salvage parts. But right now I'm just feeling very dispirited. I'm sorry Gizmo, it almost worked.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
I found, like my pi radio, I couldn't even boot up the pi, so I had to install Raspbian from scratch, and give Gizmo back all their functionality. I also discovered that in the meantime the Speaker pHAT board has been retired, but the library is still up on github.
Then I could get on with the new work. Only two of the buttons remained, so I followed some tutorials on push buttons for raspberry pi and wired up the tongue button and belly button, with resistors.
The space between a Furbys eyes contains an IR transmitter, IR receiver, and photoresistor, but I only wanted to use the photoresistor, so I followed a tutorial on light sensors for raspberry pi and wired it up with a capacitor on a mini Lilypad protoboard, because apparently raspberry pis don't have analog input read?!
Then I shortened all the wires so they would fit inside Gizmo's shell, and trimmed various sticky-out bits on the inside of the carapace. Removed the back pet button lever, and widened the hole, to make room for the power cables to the raspberry pi and the motor shield. Squished all the bits and pieces inside the carapace, screwed everything up tight again. And finally, re-skinned Gizmo.
( Photos )
Gizmo re-skinned, front
Photo by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebe
I got set up to take footage of the new Gizmo, and demonstrate how I am the real monster, when I noticed that Gizmo would speak, but no longer moved. Witness for yourself.
I despaired. I re-opened Gizmo again. Noticed a strange chemical smell. I disassembled and rebuilt the gear mechanism itself, three times, in case there were bits of thread or plastic lodged somewhere. Another wire to the motor broke off (most of the original wires broke at some point during the build) and I resoldered it. Then I tried to test my work, and found that once again the raspberry pi wouldn't boot. I went back over my photos, followed the links from the first post to other peoples documentation on what the insides should be like in case I messed something up. And then I noticed it. Gizmo's left eyelashes are partially melted. Gizmo's left eye is where the original motor lives. Combined with the chemical smell, I realised something is very broken. Whether it's the motor itself, or the worryingly attached capacitors, I don't know. Maybe at some point I will conduct an autopsy and try to salvage parts. But right now I'm just feeling very dispirited. I'm sorry Gizmo, it almost worked.
