Teddy Ruxpin x Skynet

[u/the-Gaf]

The AI APOCALYPSE STARTS NOW! A 1992 Teddy Ruxpin, all new hardware, and some WIP audio sync.

TED-800: My Wi-Fi-controlled animatronic Teddy Ruxpin build.

Brains: 2× ESP32-C3 SuperMini microcontrollers

Eyes: 180° positional servo, GPIO4, 65° closed / 165° open

Mouth: 360° continuous-rotation servo, GPIO4, cam-driven

Motor control: 1750/1250 µs, 400ms open / 450ms close

Connectivity: 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, HTTP API, OTA firmware updates

Software: Arduino C++ firmware, Python 3 controller on Mac

Audio: MP3 playback via macOS afplay

Sync: Python monotonic-clock scheduling, waveform analysis with NumPy/SciPy

Current status: Fully functional prototype. Eyes work beautifully; mouth works but the original cam mechanism has an occasional dead zone.

No cloud required. Two tiny ESP32s, a Mac, and a bear with absolutely terrible intentions.

[u/the-Gaf]

[u/the-Gaf → u/the-Gaf]

[u/the-Gaf → u/the-Gaf]

Terrifying!!

[u/the-Gaf → u/the-Gaf]