Uncle Murray
How I gave life back to a skeleton.
by Nathalie, age 9
I had been using AI, and I had an idea: we could give this cool skeleton his life back!
Meet Uncle Murray
Uncle Murray was a scientist when he was alive. Now he's a skeleton, and he loves life anyway. He talks to everybody who walks up to our porch.
He LOVES
Kids, candy, jokes, explosions (the safe kind), the color pink, and his pink dolphin slippers.
He MISSES
His pet dolphin. He says it's been missing for two hundred years.
He's BAD at
Stairs. He fell down them every single day. That's how he got like this.
Watch him talk
These are real conversations with my family, my friends and our neighbors. Nobody wrote what Murray says back: he thinks of it himself, every time.
More conversations
How I built him
our garage workshop He started as John, a skeleton from Home Depot. He only knew three sentences! So he moved into our garage.
multimeter day I opened him up. With a multimeter I found which wire moves his arm and which one lights his eyes.
testing the parts I picked his voice out of ten, and I wrote who he is. Then I tested every new part.
his new brain! His new brain came in a box. It's a tiny computer the size of a cookie.
wiring his brain I wired his new brain.
drill time I drilled the holes in his control box.
the box goes in I fitted the box inside him.
back together I put him back together.
painting his sign I painted his sign, so people know they can talk to him.
ALIVE!! At first he talked too fast and stopped listening. I tested him for hours, and we fixed one thing at a time. Now he's alive!
More from my lab notebook:
How he comes alive
His sensor feels you coming, and his eyes glow.
His microphone hears what you say.
A big computer far away thinks of what Murray would say.
He says it! His jaw moves and his arm stirs his drink.
All of that takes about one second.
Is he real?
He's a robot skeleton with a computer brain. He's only Murray because I wrote who he is.
Come say hi on Halloween!
Uncle Murray will be on our porch.
How to talk to him:
- Wait for his eyes to glow.
- Tell him your costume!
- Speak loud and clear, then wait until he stops talking.
- Say goodbye when you leave.
Did you film him? Post it with #TalkToUncleMurray and tag @talktounclemurray. He might put you in his Story!
Oct 31Halloween night
Murray in the news
Reporters came to meet Murray! Here's what they wrote.
Patch Oct 29
Alameda girl, 9, uses AI to turn ordinary Home Depot skeleton into 'Uncle Murray'
The 19th Oct 27
Meet Uncle Murray, the talking skeleton programmed by a 9-year-old girl
CBS News Bay Area Oct 26 · TV
Alameda girl uses AI to create talking skeleton for Halloween display
Macaroni KID Oct 21
Meet Uncle Murray: talking skeleton brought to life by a 9-year-old
East Bay Times Oct 20
Murray made the newspaper!