Card upgraded the Furby from its 1998 standard model with a Raspberry Pi 4 computer, USB microphone, and a Python speech recognition module. This enables it to become a robot chat partner, or evil mastermind depending on your perspective.

The USB microphone and Python speech recognition module record the queries before sending them to OpenAI’s Whisper speech-to-text-library. ChatGPT then responds via text prompt and then converted to speech using Narakeet’s text-to-speech voice-over library. The Furby speaks through a USB-powered speaker, while its movements are controlled by Raspberry Pi using an H bridge motor controller.

Card admits that she is not sure that it was a good idea creating her own Frankenstein Furby monster.

“I think this may be the start of something bad for humanity.” she said.

You can see it in action here.