A Facial Recognition Macintosh Furby

Sam Battle, better known as “LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER,” is at it again with a Raspberry Pi-controlled Macintosh Plus... with eyeballs. Like many of his projects, it’s an amalgamation of devices, but this is such a techno mash-up that it's hard to even properly describe!

The project is powered by a Raspberry Pi – which he eventually confesses is an actual computer – running a facial recognition routine. A Pi Camera is stuck behind a moving ping pong ball eye, allowing the orbs to follow you around the room. This is mounted to a clear Macintosh Plus case, where inside you can see a Furby that is apparently at the controls of its Macintosh exoskeleton. Ribbon cables emanate from the little creature's eyeballs to the moving external eye assembly affixed to where a screen would normally sit.

A set of joke teeth complete the computer face effect, creating something that would be more than a bit shocking under normal circumstances. As it stands now, it’s destined for the soon to be open “Museum of Everything Else," where it will fit in quite nicely with its obsolete and experimental technology theme. In the meantime, you can catch a glimpse of it in the video below, along with the build process, and a bit of an explanation as to how this device came to be.

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Sam Battle. We’ve featured his projects here on many occasions, such as this KiloDrone 1000-oscillator synth, and this triple Atari Punk Console, or AAAPPPCCC.