04 / AI + EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Animatronic
Talking Head
An ongoing experiment in giving a physical character a responsive voice and face.
STATUSWork in progress
COMPUTEJetson Orin Nano
SYSTEMSLocal LLM · speech pipeline · mechanics
THE IDEA
This project transforms a repurposed plush head into an animatronic character capable of real-time, AI-driven interaction. It is intentionally a mix of soft toy, embedded computer, mechanical build, and conversational interface.
THE STACK
- A Jetson Orin Nano handles the onboard compute.
- A local large language model provides conversational intelligence.
- Speech-to-text processes incoming audio.
- Low-latency text-to-speech produces the response.
- A coordinated mechanism turns speech into jaw movement.
WHAT I’M EXPLORING
The challenge is not only getting each part to work; it is making the full interaction feel immediate and coherent. Timing, sound, response quality, and movement all have to support the same character.
MORE IMAGES
