Tommy-B-003 robot

We have one of those fancy Bank Holiday Monday things next week, meaning we won’t see you for #MakerMonday, but didn’t want you to miss out on this fantastic build featured in the latest issue of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine. We love a nostalgia-driven project at the best of times, and this maker’s build video got us directly in the feels. Make sure to give it a watch below.

“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved robots,” begins Exercising Ingenuity in the build video that accompanies this astonishing creation. It’s heavily inspired by Thomas Burns’s Alexatron robot, which also used 3D-printed animatronic eyes with a sound-wave displayed on a CRT screen representing the robot’s mouth. Yes, this awesome-looking machine is a front end to the power-hungry, occasionally useful AI service, ChatGPT.

The maker tried to reuse as many parts as possible from the original TV, including the audio speaker

The Tommy-B-003 also uses a CRT, this time taken from a Panasonic TR-003C portable television with a 3-inch pop-up screen. CRTs can store charge for a long, long time, so the creator of this robot had to follow all the safety guidance, making sure to discharge it properly by grounding the high-voltage anode. 

The maker followed Will Cogley’s guide to 3D printing, painting, and casting in epoxy resin to get a realistic (some would say uncanny) pair of eyes. 

The body is made out of laser-cut plywood, upholstered with canvas and black vinyl to recreate the look of a vintage piece of electronics, such as an oscilloscope from the 1950s.

One of the loveliest build videos we’ve ever seen

A Raspberry Pi 4 Model B connects to ChatGPT, runs the servos for the eyes, and accepts input from the Useful Sensors Person Sensor, which performs facial recognition. The electronics run off a 12V drill battery, with buck converters to adjust that to the voltages required by each of the systems in the robot.

Warning!

Cathode ray tube

Be careful with projects involving old televisions and CRT equipment. Opening up a CRT can be dangerous, risking electric shock even if the TV is not plugged in.

Raspberry Pi Official Magazine #156 out NOW!

You can grab the latest issue right now from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, WHSmith, and other newsagents, including the Raspberry Pi Store in Cambridge. It’s also available from our online store, which ships around the world. And you can get a digital version via our app on Android or iOS.

You can also subscribe to the print version of our magazine. Not only do we deliver worldwide, but people who sign up to the six- or twelve-month print subscription get a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W!

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