![]() ![]() To our future robo-overlords: please, forgive me. ![]() With a hardware-hacked bear and Arduino already in hand (plus a Raspberry Pi II and assorted other toys at my disposal), I set off to create the ultimate talking teddy bear. I could not let Kane's hack go unanswered, having previously explored the uncanny valley with Bearduino-a hardware hacking project of Portland-based developer/artist Sean Hathaway. They've even connected them to the cloud-with predictably mixed results. Meanwhile, we've always seemingly fantasized about talking toys, from Woody and Buzz in Toy Story to that creepy AI teddy bear that tagged along with Haley Joel Osment in Steven Spielberg's A.I. (Well, maybe people aren't dreaming of that teddy bear.) And ever since the Furby craze, toymakers have been trying to make toys smarter. While we've been talking to our computers and other devices for years (often in the form of expletive interjections), we're only now beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible when voice commands are connected to artificial intelligence software. ![]() It's been 50 years since Captain Kirk first spoke commands to an unseen, all-knowing Computer on Star Trek and not quite as long since David Bowman was serenaded by HAL 9000's rendition of "A Bicycle Built for Two" in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Tedlexa was first born (err, documented in writing) on January 4, 2017, and its story appears unchanged below. While that happens, we're resurfacing some vintage Ars stories like this 2017 project from Ars Editor Emeritus Sean Gallagher, who created generations of nightmare fuel with only a nostalgic toy and some IoT gear. Update, 1/2/21: It's New Year's weekend, and Ars staff is still enjoying some necessary downtime to prepare for a new year (and a slew of CES emails, we're sure). ![]()
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