RICHARD ZHANG
Design Engineer Imperial College London
GIZMO
DESIGN
TASK
We were given ten weeks to create an
electro-mechanical display piece in the in a group of four. Our team's end product was a raspberry pi powered interactive robot pet named Gizmo.
Gizmo behaves like a real pet and over time will become sleepy, bored and hungry and he expresses this through originally created facial animations. Users are able to interact and play with Gizmo by placing his possessions inside of his box.
TECHNICAL
DETAILS
Gizmo understand where he is inside of his box thanks to python and SimpleCV. This works by using a ceiling mounted web-camera which keeps track of coloured dots which are located on Gizmo and his toys. Adobe Character animator was used to create different expressions for Gizmo's different emotions and actions.
MY CONTRIBUTION
The entire team contributed to most aspects of Gizmo. My specialized role within the team was to create Gizmo's various facial expressions which were created in Adobe Character Animator, a piece of software that was new to me at the time. I also assisted in the design and manufacture of Gizmo's circuitry and body as well as the cube which he would live in.
