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Welcome to the CyberFurby wiki!
I have an original 1998 Tiger Electronics Furby, I have been learning how to do more things with Python, 3d printing, and electronics recently, I also have an overwhelmng need to do the occasional project that makes no sense whatsoever.
Welcome to ths Cyber Furby project!
I would like the end product of this project to look mostly identical to the original look of the Furby. That's essentially the only bit of scope that I'm solid on. I am willing to bend that slightly too, for instance I do anticipate needing a cooling solution and one of my initial ideas is to raise the base slightly to allow for some air flow. Any changes like this I would like to keep subtle enough that they can be overlooked at a glance.
Literally everything else is on the table. My constraints are mainly going to be internal space but if space can be found, I am interested in adding literally any feature.
- Digital Brain
A Raspberry Pi Zero will be the brains of our Cyber boi. During development I will be using a Zero W as it’s what I have on hand but when the supply chain lets up I plan to upgrade to a Zero 2 W.
- Phenomenal Cosmic Power
Well, enough to keep the Cyber boi going. We’re looking at an internal LiPo battery here not cold fusion (yet). The battery should have power management for the Pi with UPS capability and a safe protected charging circuit so the battery doesn’t have to be removed for charging.
- Control over Time itself!
Which is to say that, as I wish for this to be somewhat capable of being moved around while powered, our Cyber Boi should have some sort of real time clock (RTC) in order to maintain his knowledge of the flow of linear time as he contemplates the infinity of the multiverse as it flows around us.
- The Power to Move You!
By you, we are of course meaning the ears, eyes, and beak that make up the original Furby movement. This will have to be re-engineered mostly from scratch as a good amount of the insides is a whole lot of gears as things stand. We’re not going to have room for that. But the plan is to have a motor control board that can be used to drive the movement and hopefully we can figure out some attach points to make the motors both fit and be able to move just as well as the Furby originally could.
- The Voice of an Angel
What’s a Furby without the power to make amazingly profound proclamations in Furbish? Nothing, that’s what. We’ll get a speaker of some kind in there somehow.
- Ears to the Ground
I mean, they don’t have to be to the ground but it would be great if we had a microphone in there capable of picking up voice. I heavily suspect that the quality of the input will be awful as it will be through fur but heck, we can try!
- Sight Beyond Sight
A camera, simple as that. Ideally I’d like to fit it in the sensor slab above the Furby’s eyes where the original light sensor was. This is another one where I heavily suspect space and size limitations will not be our friends.