Sound-sensitive Android Figure Speaks In Morse Code

mechanized_android_figure

Instructables user [tanbata] recently got his hands on a Google Anroid figurine and thought that while it looked great, it served no real purpose. He decided to change that, and converted this once-useless hunk of plastic into a miniature robot that moves and responds to sound.

He pried of the head of the figure and got busy fitting a servo into the Android’s body to enable head movement. An ATiny was added to control the figure, along with a microphone to enable it to respond to sound. A piezo was inserted to relay Morse code messages, and a handful of LEDs were installed in the body cavity and eyes of the figure just for kicks.

When the bot is powered on and senses a loud enough sound, the eyes light, the head spins from side to side, and the robot spouts off a random message in Morse code as you can see in the video below.

It’s not the most advanced project out there, but with a few tweaks, it could make for a great USB-powered email or IM notification system for your PC. Better yet, it’s a great project to do with a child who is interested in electronics, since they get to make a cool robot toy they can keep.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew876S8voJY&w=470]

16 thoughts on “Sound-sensitive Android Figure Speaks In Morse Code

  1. How about installing a couple of phototransistors alongside the LED eyes, so the head can be made to follow a bright light held in front of the robot. (OK you’d have to only poll the PT’s when the LEDs are off, but that’s easy enough).

  2. The morse code has just horrible timing associated with it. I’m a ham operator, and I can’t copy it.

    @mrbrt — the last character is a K, not a C. That’s traditional morse code for “over to you.” However, due to the poor spacing of the characters, it sounds like it’s part of the last word, which it really oughtn’t be.

  3. He says (Google Android Rocks) and the second time says (Gingerbread Tastes Good) I understand the first one but ginger bread ?? beats me my decoding could be wrong but it would have to be horribly wrong.

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