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An animatronic talking takeout container

Arduino TeamSeptember 22nd, 2016

An Arduino plus fake food and audio capabilities equals something truly unique!

Randy “randofo” Sarafan had an idea when he was in college: a takeout container that talked. To the world’s great benefit, now that he knows about electronics, he finally made this dream a reality. Using an Arduino Mega with a Seed Studio Music Shield, he was able to coordinate the movements of a servo and thus the lid of a box with the audio coming out of a speaker. After attaching googly, or “googily” eyes, and modifying a fake serving of spaghetti, he had something that should be quite entertaining!

This idea came about after having taken a special effects film class when I was in college. While in the class, I made a short film of myself talking to a takout container with a face drawn on it. However, not having the know-how to do anything with electronics, the initial version was being controlled by a friend pulling upon and releasing a thin fishing line. While I do not doubt that my friend was skilled at controlling the lid in this manner, I couldn’t help but thinking that it would be great if I could automate the whole thing — at the very least — less embarrasing.

You can find more info on how to build this “foodie” contraption on the project’s Instructables page!

Boards:Mega
Categories:ArduinoFeatured