Major tech companies across the board are investing big in the idea that voice is going to be the next digital interface. Google’s Home, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri all talk back.
But just because a robot understands what you’re saying doesn’t mean it needs to strike up a conversation.
Take Peeqo, a desktop robot built by DIY roboticist Abhishek Singh that responds to voice commands entirely through GIFs, the animated image format that allows people to share seconds-long bursts of animation and are a cornerstone of internet culture.
When Peeqo was asked to clarify the debate over whether or not GIF is pronounced with a hard or soft G, the robot showed a GIF meme from a scene in “Pulp Fiction” with Samuel L. Jackson and text threatening to correct anyone who pronounces the file format with a soft G sound.
Today, Singh shared the first video of the fully built Peeqo in action. The design for Singh’s robot was first shared this December on Reddit’s DIY forum, where it quickly rose to become the highest rated DIY post of all time on Reddit, as reported by The Daily Dot.
The robot doesn’t only respond to questions with appropriate GIFs. It also has a voice-activated camera, a speaker on its head and microphones in its ears. Singh programmed a plugin for the robot to respond to requests to play Spotify.
Peeqo is activated to listen when it hears its name, similar to Alexa. But Peeqo actually perks up and blinks the eyes on its screen. It has a soft exoskeleton that allows the robot to bend and move slightly to signal it’s listening.
Singh decided to completely open source the design for Peeqo, including instructions for 3-D printing the file and etching its custom-designed circuit board.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
