Few robotic toys have reached the popularity of the Furby. With more than 40 million units sold in its original production alone, Furbys became virtually a plague, and many electronics enthusiasts did not hesitate to practice advanced surgery on them. One of the results is the Furby Organ developed by the YouTube channel "Look Mum, No Computer". Each of the plush toys can emit a note, while a series of secondary controls modify their behavior.
A Brief History of Furby
The Furbys began their adventure in 1998 under the wing of Tiger Electronics. The madness to get one of these toys was so great that exorbitant auctions and fights between parents inside supermarkets multiplied. Even the producers of The Simpsons got on the Furby train by creating their parody Funzo, a creature with an adorable appearance and a terrifying mind, programmed to convince children to buy official accessories and destroy competitors' toys. The Furbys retired in 2002, returned in 2005 (this time with Hasbro), stepped aside again in 2007, returned once more in 2012… and they still haven't left. The cheapest new Furby averages 40 dollars. The rarest and oldest models demand about 300 dollars on eBay. And someone decided to take 45 of them and turn them into musical zombies.
The Furby Organ: A Nightmarish Instrument
If the "collective awakening" in this Furby Organ isn't disturbing enough, I think the "freeze" button hits the mark. The machine has a total of 45 Furbys, although its creator reports 44 (after all, there are 44 controls on the bottom panel). Each Furby generates a vowel, but with the use of the controls, the pianist can modify it at will. The result is an almost tolerable melody, accompanied by a cacophony of demonic Furbys with half-open mouths and eyes, trapped in a kind of infernal chorus extracted from our deepest nightmares.
Wonderful and chilling at the same time. Other projects available on the Web have transformed Furbys into Amazon Echo units, and the Open Furby project helps us install a custom controller to manipulate the Furby's will using any computer. If you decide to follow any of these routes, the general recommendation is to look for second-hand Furbys. They are too expensive, even for DIY projects.
