Retro 90's Furby Teardown - The Electronics Inside

In 1998 the big Christmas toy was an interactive animatronic pet. How intelligent was it really? What hardware was crammed into the fluffy exterior? I guess there is only one way to find out - tear it down! bit.ly/2Xls86m
The ICs are:
An LM234 Adjustable current source (a power controller)
an HT93LC46 - 1K EEPROM (non-volatile memory, or its storage)
an IC with smudged text - although we understand it is an audio amplifier!
and 2 potted ASICs which we understand is the CPU and ROM.

[@element14presents]

If you have any ideas or suggestions for the teardown. Let us know : bit.ly/2Xls86m

[@TheNews1990]

My Aunt Rachel hacked a baby Furby to say Rachel instead of Mama.

[@TheNews1990]

00:58 also they came out at the same time as Tomagachi, and were made by a different company.

[@fredstreet1812]

teddy ruxpin 1984

[@bohunkerdonk5200]

Actually, these aren’t the 1998 version. Those are the “Furby Baby” model, and they were released in 1999-2000.

[@MondoMurderface]

Yea, I was going to point this out. They were slightly less technically advanced but not by much. Smaller too. Edit: They are also worth more because they are slightly rarer.. So its an odd choice. He must have had them lying around.

[@greenbeanfurby_]

I believe they dont have as many movements as the regular ones

[@_basho_7089]

How about a part 2 explaining and testing it in detail? Maybe a rebuild or mods?

[@a531016]

I'll put it to the team, see what they think! Thanks for the feedback!

[@mikedev101]

AFAIK these furbies were originally powered with a microcontroller based upon the MOS 6502 processor. I believe you can find the source code online somewhere...

[@johnbubu8310]

It would be cool to make an Alexa out of a Furby

[@blunderingfool]

Juan Bubu Not putting spying devices into your house is a better idea IMHO.

[@JacobLaurenzana]

Someone did this, you ca find the video with a quick search on KZbin!

[@Bosniarat24]

I like it!

[@goodatbeingnoob1336]

@@blunderingfool Alexa doesn't spy on you, I love seeing stupid comments like this. If Alexa is spying on you, then the device you're typing on right now is too.

[@looneybirdstudiosandbillyb7337]

Lol that’s all ready done

[@malgailany]

It would be cool to reverse engineer the Mic circuitry to see if it really listen/learn.

[@Clara_Page]

i believe it was just used to monitor sound volume so it knew when noise was being made around it, I think it might of been cable of recognizing clapping too

[@zaprodk]

It does not. It's silicon has been reverse engineered and it's disappointingly simple.

[@billbergen9169]

@@zaprodk link?

[@MondoMurderface]

It only hears loud noises. The newer Furby from 2005-2012-2016 can listen and understand words, but the original could only tell when you clapped or yelled. The "learning" is simply a float that increases during any form of interaction. Absolutely no language skills.

[@siriashe]

as a person whos deconstructed a 2012 furby boom its kind of strange how similar they look before removing the "skull" and after you remove the fur, the speakers are there, the weird white thing that holds the face on, the ear mechanic looked the same, heck theres even a cogwheel behind a small plate where that red rectangle was

[@redfangsmayhem4864]

i feel bad for the other furby it watch you rip apart its friend

[@a531016]

It's still a little traumatised!

[@ActionHeinz]

Well, at least it kinda broke my heart watching that poor Furby got torn apart...

[@martincima5947]

It'd be fair to do reassembly followup. With eventual repair of worn out parts. You know to heal him.

[@zaprodk]

The "resistors" on the motor are not resistors. They are inductors, and together with the capacitor they form a filter that takes the edge of the brush noise that would otherwise interfere with radio reception.

[@a531016]

Sorry, you are quite right, that's what I meant to say!

[@themoonlitfurbling7104]

Oh, I always wondered why Furbys sometimes catch radio signals or if it was a myth

[@zaprodk]

@@themoonlitfurbling7104 the filters are for not emitting any noise. It will not protect from receiving the noise. Any kind of electrical gadget can get triggered from electrical noise / radio etc. if designed badly.

[@marvinmarvin38]

I had a furby for many years: 1- I am pretty sure the mic was just for volume as it also reacted to sound/music and got scared and danced. maybe the sound input times also made it change its language bank faster? 2- They actually hated being upside down(shouted and cried) and you just had to keep them in drawer not turn them upside down. 3- It also had some games like simon says etc in it that you could activate. 4- The tongue also had a button for "feeding" this was awesome though thank you dismantling one. There is a new Furby, so maybe also look inside it too?

[@InazumaDash]

I still have mine I remember when it started talking after not being touched for years in a drawer at night. Yes the batteries were still in it but it was still creepy. They were really glitchy and had to be rebooted often. They'd go nuts and just make noise. Noise it normally wouldn't make otherwise. I remember kids would freak out when it happened and get really upset.

[@karwan6385]

I never owned one.

[@a531016]

Fortunately they didn't bother me when they came out. But if I had been 4 or 5 years younger? Nightmare fuel!

[@vanja4405]

I have one but not the old ones i have the 2017 ones.

[@yerejun]

Mine did that too. Creeped me out

[@ninjamaster3453]

Potted epoxy chips always feel like a middle finger when I see them.

[@a531016]

I know the feeling. I am pretty sure it's almost always cost but it still feels like they are just "protecting their intellectual property"?

[@Bin216]

David Edwards It’s just for cost as they manufactured the custom chips by the thousand. Those cheap products where the standard chips have the markings scrubbed off are the real stuff you...

[@ninjamaster3453]

@@Bin216 wheres the love for the reverse engineer? Say no to epoxy pots. Share the love.

[@309electronics5]

​@@Bin216not realy custom chips! A spc81a based on 6502 without the y index and Texas isntruments speech processor

[@KittyKatKandi]

I wonder if it would be possible to change the voice files/furby dialogue haha i can just imagine

[@MondoMurderface]

You would have to design your own board and just use the existing one as a way of getting input. Like an entirely new program for interaction. But it would be possible for sure. I'm baffled there isn't a bigger community around them for projects like this, they were so popular and there are so many of them out there still.

[@309electronics5]

You cant its hardcoded probably you have to program a blank texas instrument speech cpu with your phrases and maybe reprogram the 6502 based cpu the furby uses to send the correct commands

[@Furbtastic]

I kinda needed this so I can take my furby apart so I can turn it into Monokuma

[@quinsomnia4934]

Did you do it??

[@Fawkes-ent]

would be nice to find out what that mic is for. if i remember rightly there was no mic activation's on the furby. would make sense if huawei made them lol.

[@309electronics5]

Am late but the cpu is a spc81a wich is a "sort of" 6502 clone but without the Y index register. the second cpu (yes this has 2 cpus) is a texas instruments speech cpu with its own codd

[@K4270X]

This video really needs better overhead lights and possibly zoom(not digital) to show details, otherwise its hard to see details that you are trying to point out. Also I would prefer more messing with the electronics. Otherwise decent quick look at innards of the Furby.

[@a531016]

Thank you for the feedback, noted, and hopefully future videos will be better!

[@Songfugel]

Wow, the quality of the build for a children's toy of that age was pretty impressive

[@MondoMurderface]

yea, and only 30 bucks. The newer models are 100 dollars and not really much better. The original was smartly designed to utilize older cheaper technology like ir sensors and clockwork style gear work to make it all work on a single motor. The newer ones just get 5 motors thrown in and bluetooth. Killing battery life and wallets.

[@vaughntonkin539]

It would be a good idea to feed the audio from the Furby to an amplifier for a fuller sound

[@gogatad7444]

Wow cool :)

[@xylfox]

Really great! Thanks! So I don´t have to ruin my Furby found on the fleamarket in munich for 1€! German version! I speculated there may be a Texas-Instruments-SoundChip in there like in the 90ies dream-phone. You got a lot of great mechanics and electronics for the 35$ it costed in 1998(about 55$ nowadays).Prices skyrocket to 100$ and more before X-mas ´98

[@lasemidesnatada]

I got one wich doesnt move the thingy with the rubber end to move the eyelids.. any idea how that is connected to the gears to get it moving again?

[@Bosniarat24]

Rebuild it with a Raspberry pi and Ardino.

[@a531016]

It could certainly be done!

[@mikemcdonald2755]

Peeled furby almost sounds worse than skinned furby lol.

[@furbygirlyt]

That's not a 1998 furby it's the 1999 Furby baby

[@rugdealer1729]

those are actually furby babies not standard furbies

[@vaughntonkin539]

Just bought a yellow/orange baby furby that is mute, would the piezo speaker fail or would it be the be the electronics?

[@danielpatrick3268]

3:33

[@sprintcoding7358]

Who else is here after long talks about AI and remembering some show they watched on a discovery show about robots 10years ago trying to refresh what they had heard about the memory stacks inside the furby. Yet no circuitry us explained....never going to find it.

[@Ham549]

How did the run everything with just one motor?

[@Davedarko]

clever gears and switches

[@2Cerealbox]

You should have called it a Furby Autopsy instead of Teardown.

[@a531016]

Ahh, we missed a trick there!

[@Arrichicco_Alessandro-video]

I have the First Furby

[@gasterwingdingschannel]

you can do a Chuck E. Cheese animatronics

[@drummergirl4239]

3:04 it looks like Wheezy from toy story

[@mechalooneybird9768]

I did this this furby in the video is a furby baby from. 1999

[@jackmeier8236]

those are both 1999 model furbies.

[@mamabun]

The sourcecode can be found here: github.com/gnomon-/furby-source

[@309electronics5]

Its actually sort of 6502 assembly without the y index i love that furbies use clones of popular cpus

[@rurutrisha9820]

Nooo don't break them):

[@egantw]

You need to rebuild it and make it better, stronger, faster! Da--da-da-dada--dada-da-da-dada.....(Six Million Dollar Man Theme Song).

[@a531016]

We have the technology...

[@jorgegato9986]

😱😮🤩😍😍 motor love❤❤

[@mee_is_sus]

Thats not a normal furby, thats a "furby baby" whitch is diferent.

[@robertkosinski2105]

Oh great! Now I'm gonna have nightmares of you ripping the fur off a poor furby.... good thing it didn't have batteries otherwise it would be screaming.

[@a531016]

It felt so wierd "peeling a Furby"!

[@mythomaschannelisback2440]

Take apart teddy ruxpin and repair him

[@quinsomnia4934]

try an elmo!

[@FloridaBikeVlogger]

i want to put in raspberry pi

[@309electronics5]

Or just arduino. The original furby uses a 6502 clone cpu without the y index register

[@davidfulton7131]

THAT ISIN'T A REIE 1THAT IS DAFINTIE A BOOTLEG

[@DiyintheGhetto]

Now hack it to annoy my wife please lol

[@ruhtraeel]

I think they're running out of ideas XD