On this planet of video video games, few characters keep on with you want GLaDOS, the snarky AI from Valve’s Portal collection. Her sharp-tongued sarcasm and sneaky jabs made her a legend, nevertheless it’s her weirdly iconic potato-powered model in Portal 2 that’s sparked a completely bonkers DIY challenge. Robotics whiz Dave Niewinski took this quirky little bit of gaming historical past and turned it right into a real-life AI assistant—yep, stuffed inside a 3D-printed potato.
Niewinski’s mission was clear: deliver the potato-trapped GLaDOS from Portal 2 to life, full together with her biting wit, with out burning a gap in your pockets. Neglect the sport’s made-up potato battery that by some means runs a supercomputer—Niewinski went with an Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano as the guts of the challenge. This compact single-board laptop is beefy sufficient to deal with AI duties offline, conserving issues sensible and personal. The Jetson’s not as low-cost as an actual spud, nevertheless it’s small, highly effective, and excellent for a challenge that’s all about massive outcomes on a price range.
The potato itself is a DIY masterpiece. Niewinski grabbed a 3D mannequin of the Portal 2 potato from Thingiverse, a goldmine for makers trying to deliver sport stuff into actuality. Printed with care, this pretend spud holds the Jetson and its wiring, full with clips and cables to nail that Portal 2 vibe. An actual potato would’ve been cool however would rot and wreck the tech, so the 3D-printed model is hard and sensible. It even rocks a glowing yellow eye, mimicking GLaDOS’s creepy stare, because of LEDs that pulse alongside together with her voice.
The actual magic occurs within the AI software program, the place Niewinski’s genius takes heart stage. He used NVIDIA’s NeMo toolkit to tweak a voice mannequin primarily based on GLaDOS’s iconic traces, which Valve kindly shared on-line. The FastPitch and HiFiGAN networks, fine-tuned for the Jetson, flip textual content into that eerie, acquainted GLaDOS voice. For responses, Niewinski tapped OpenChat, an area giant language mannequin operating in a Docker container. This lets the potato dish out snarky, on-point replies with no need the web. The end result? A pocket-sized gadget that snaps again with GLaDOS’s signature sass, all powered by a humble board.
This potato does extra than simply sling insults. Niewinski hooked it up with a microphone and speaker utilizing a ReSpeaker Lite package, so you possibly can discuss to it and listen to GLaDOS hearth again. The system grabs your questions, runs them by means of the AI, and spits out solutions in her voice. The Jetson’s energy has its limits—responses can lag a bit, and it’s not as snappy as your common good speaker—nevertheless it’s all offline, which is an enormous win for privateness in a world stuffed with cloud-hungry units.
The entire setup runs about $200 for those who’ve obtained a 3D printer, which isn’t low-cost for a weekend tinkering session however a steal in comparison with Niewinski’s earlier GLaDOS challenge with a flowery robotic arm. By sticking to inexpensive gear and open-source software program, he’s constructed one thing that invitations different makers to leap in and mess around.
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