Mimbo, the iPhone robot emulates facial movements

The human world is unprepared for emotive robots. Japanese robots with human-like faces which smile, cry and shout only create a larger gap in the uncanny valley. Enter Mimbo, a cardboard creation which more gently resembles human expression thanks to an emotive iPhone as its visage.

Mimbo is a simple cardboard design wrapped around an iPhone. Anyone can cut it out, prop an iPhone inside and turn it on. Eyes, eyelids and a mouth are cartoon-like in nature, but easy enough to produce recognisable emotions. Mimbo’s mouth is akin to a DJ’s fader and it smiles or frowns with a rainbow palette of LED lights. The “magic” of Mimbo comes courtesy of TouchOSC.

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