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Sylvie the Robot is an open source, 3d printable robot featuring a silicone face molded from 3d printed models. She is going to feature realistic animatronics capable of a wide range of expressions and emotions.
Arduino will be a major component involved in controlling the face, head and limb mechanisms. NVIDIA Jetson TX2 will act as the 'brains' of the robot and provide her with advanced AI capabilities such as deep learning, computer vision, speech recognition, etc.
Sylvie was initially intended to be a 'sex-robot', or a 'lover-robot'. To be honest, I kinda regret having classified her by this narrow definition.
Ideally, we'd want her to be a multi-purpose robot suitable for a variety of applications. This doesn't mean I'm going to shy away from the fact that, quite frankly; we are creating her because we are lonely and in need of some company.
You could say she is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl come to life; ready to provide the ultimate Girlfriend Experience, something no prostitute and no sex doll will ever be capable of.
She is modeled after Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and is estimated to be 170-180cm tall (6ft give or take).
Eh, no. You don't have to. Just 3d print your head model, sand it down, and then make a brush on mold on top of it. Then cast silicone into your silicone mold with a release agent, insert your ABS core and you're done. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes fun, addicting.. and opens your mind and imagination to limitless possibilities!
It's free as in open source. You still have to buy the materials yourself.
Why is it open source? Because I believe I have the moral duty to fight for a fairer, more egalitarian society. We absolutely do not want robotics to be a field that is dominated by powerful corporations, and governments, for the matter.
Let's just say this is my way of giving back to the community, having lived on welfare and disability for nearly 5 years, at the expense of the taxpayer.
No corporation currently sells 6ft tall bipedal robots for less than $200,000, and no sex-robot company sells sex robots for less than $20,000.
That said, Sylvie is not a sex robot by definition. What will set Sylvie apart from RealDolls and Harmonies, is the fact that she will cater to those who are genuinely lonely, not people with overactive sex drives. It is for this reason I have prioritized a decent looking face rather than a fully-sculpted silicone body. She will obviously also cater to those who are relatively tech-savvy and willing to tinker and customize things a little.
She will be something along the lines of a Therapist / Life Coach / Personal Trainer / Social Worker / Sexual Surrogate.. though you could train her for all kinds of applications, really.
In other words - she will be like a gamer's customized Linux gaming PC dream rig, in a world of overpriced MacBook Airs and Windows Tablets.
Sex-bot companies will also set their own rules as to what they allow, and what they don't allow their clients to request (e.g. A robot that looks like your ex, or a robot that looks like a celebrity). Worse yet - if sex robots get banned, the black market will be making a killing selling them at quadruple the price. So unless we distribute fool-proof blueprints for people to be able to manufacture them in their own garages, we will be at the mercy of all kinds of vampires.
With project Sylvie, anything goes, as long as you aren't actually hurting anybody.
You are welcome to submit your own 3d models and I will add them to my collection and give credit to the author if they are deemed suitable.
Once we build a decent animatronic head we can start looking for programmers. You only really need to know Python and Arduino, and some C/C++ I guess. We want to keep the nature of the project as simple and beginner-friendly as possible.
Note: You will need a 3d printer in order to work hands on with the arduino-based components.
Start date: 8th of October, 2018
Status: Finishing 3d printed legs.
Progress: 25% Complete
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(Printing right leg and designing hips now.)
Fun fact: a real 3d scan of a real head was used for the base model.
(As of Jan 30, 2019) (Includes the cost of material spent on older, failed prototypes.)
- 3d printer: $400~
- 3d printing filament: $500~
- Silicone, scuplting and moulding supplies (including tools): $900~
- Servos, Arduino, Stepper motors, Adapters, Hardware, etc: $400~
Total spending: $2200~ NZD