Rather than rely on a company smart speaker like the Echo or Alexa, one Futurama fan built a custom interactive system featuring Bender's best profane sayings. Adult animated comedy Futurama, created by The Simpson's Matt Groening, premiered on Fox in 1999 and ran for four seasons until 2003. The series follows Phillip J. Fry (Billy West), a pizza delivery boy who is cryogenically frozen and wakes up in the year 3000. He joins the Planet Express delivery company alongside one-eyed mutant Leela (Katey Sagal) and his best friend, a robot named Bender (John DiMaggio).
From the initial thirteen-episode order, the network expressed concern for aspects like the inclusion of "suicide booths" and Bender's attitude. After its cancellation on Fox, the show ran on Adult Swim until 2007, before being revived as four whimsical direct-to-video films, including Bender's Big Score and Bender's Game. In 2009, six years after leaving Fox, the network entered an agreement with Comedy Central to air old episodes and produce a new 16-episode season 5. A 26-episode season 6 followed, before its seventh and final season aired from 2012 to 2013. Throughout it all, Bender remained a big part of Futurama's popularity, so it's unsurprising (though very impressive) that a fan would look to the cantankerous robot for inspiration when creating their own smart speaker.
Reddit user Zen Kong, an avid Futurama fan, uploaded a two-minute video (via CNET) of an interactive smart speaker resembling the foul-mouthed cartoon character. To create the Bender speaker, Kong downloaded a 3-D model of the bending unit's head from Thingiverse and printed the case. To bring him to life, Kong used a Raspberry Pi Zero W computer paired with speech recognition software from Pocketsphinx. In the final build, Bender's eyes and mouth light up when interacting, and he replies to queries with iconic phrases from the show. Check out the Bender smart speaker in action in the video, below.
Like all technology, there are pros and cons to the Bender-speaker. The unit functions entirely offline, so no fear of ads and pop-ups targeting products discussed the day before. The downside, though, is Bender can't update users on the weather or headlines (not that he would if he could). The video reveals the Bender-speaker spouting his iconic catchphrase, telling users to, "Bite my shiny metal ass," when asked basic questions. When plugged in, the eyes and mouth flash blue and yellow, while he omits a yell. All Bender's speech comes from recording's of the show.
Some fans might opt for a simple action figure to express their love, others go the extra mile and create entire shrines to their pop culture idols. Fandoms are getting all the more creative during the months-long quarantine caused by the global pandemic, and a fully operational Bender head is proof. While the robot might not help in any way other than offering some hostile companionship, there is a comfort in knowing that personal information won't make its way to a third-party buyer. Beyond the practical benefits, the Futurama speaker is any pop culture fiend's dream. Why settle for Siri, designed to meet your every need when the option exists for a sassy robot head, bound to mouth off?