In a recent episode of our weekly Raspberry Pi podcast, The PiCast, we had the honor of featuring developer and Artist Geeky Faye Art who’s been hard at work creating a huge BMO figure, a character from the show Adventure Time, with a Raspberry Pi inside. According to Geeky Faye Art, the goal of this project is to create a figure that looks like BMO, talks like BMO, and runs OctoPrint, an open-source system developed just for the Raspberry Pi to help manage and control 3D printers.
Inside BMO, you’ll find a Raspberry Pi with a dedicated screen where BMO’s face usually is. A speaker is mounted inside the body for audio output. A custom PCB was developed to make the front-facing buttons functional. These buttons look just like the originals found on BMO and are printed using PLA filament.
The best Raspberry Pi projects are ones you can make at home—Geeky Faye Art explains in the latest update that a big goal in this project is to make it easy to recreate. The shell was designed using Fusion 360 with particular attention given to its ability to be reprinted and internal support for the components inside. The body is assembled using M3 and M4 screws or otherwise snaps into place. After testing the tolerance and flexibility of various filaments, PETG was chosen for the final body print.
The limbs are designed to be posable and can even hold certain objects. They were 3D printed using Polymaker PolyFlex 90A Shore TPU with hollow channels inside for embedding wire. This allows the limbs to bend and hold their shape. The hands are fitted with magnets that can be used for holding small metal things.
So far BMO is assembled but isn’t quite up and running just yet. Be sure to follow Geeky Faye Art for more updates and a closer look at the software side when it’s ready.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
