For most 9-year-olds, the talking Halloween skeleton from Home Depot is fine just the way it comes right out of the box. It says a few stock phrases, possibly spooks a few trick-or-treaters and then back into the garage it goes until next year.<\/p>\n
Nathalie Chabas, though, a fourth-grader at Edison Elementary School on Alameda\u2019s East End, is not your typical 9-year-old. Right from the start, Nathalie had bigger plans for the animatronic wonder she and her dad Jim picked up early last month that could only utter three sentences.<\/p>\n
For answers, Nathalie turned to artificial intelligence. There she asked AI what she needed to do to improve her skeleton that she\u2019s renamed \u201cUncle Murray.\u201d AI had no problem spitting back a full to-do list. The first order of business was purchasing a new computer \u201cbrain\u201d and instructions on how to open up the skeleton and install it.<\/p>\n
A deeper dive into the process of how Nathalie\u2019s robot was transformed from a run-of-the-mill, store-bought skeleton into an AI-powered live phenom ready for open mic night is described in Uncle Murray\u2019s \u201cpress kit\u201d as follows: \u201cA motion sensor wakes him. A small computer inside him (a Raspberry Pi) listens through a speakerphone. An AI (Claude, by Anthropic) decides what Uncle Murray would say, and the pirate voice Nathalie picked says it while his jaw moves and his arm stirs his drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
This takes all of a second, from start to finish. A sign designed by Nathalie and stationed next to Uncle Murray provides the following instructions on how to interact with the skeleton: \u201cHe Talks First, Then You Talk. Say your NAME. Say your COSTUME. Ask for a JOKE. Ask him ANYTHING!\u201d<\/p>\n
A typical Uncle Murray encounter unfolds like this: An unsuspecting Halloween reveler approaches, Murray\u2019s eyes eyes light up, and he says something spooky. Then he asks about the visitor\u2019s costume, tells skeleton jokes and laughs at them. He also talks about how much he misses his pet dolphin \u201cFlipper\u201d and how he fell down the stairs. He makes it all up on the fly too \u2014 with a little help from AI.<\/p>\n
Originally known as \u201cJohn the Last Call Mixologist\u201d for his ever-present cocktail and stirrer, his \u201cJohn\u201d character\u2019s conversation repertoire was focused on drinking. Obviously, this would not do for a family-friendly front-of-the-house Halloween attraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of made for adults. All his sentences were about alcohol and mixology, so it\u2019s not ideal for children,\u201d Jim said.<\/p>\n
Those alcohol-themed remarks are gone with the skeleton\u2019s old brain and now his glass is full of a \u201cpotion\u201d and not a Manhattan, Jim said. Uncle Murray also makes special appearances, like a recent visit to Nathalie\u2019s fourth-grade class at Edison Elementary. So that he\u2019d be more relevant to the audience, Nathalie programmed him to be up to speed on Edison lore.<\/p>\n
Nathalie, who says she wants to be a computer scientist when she grows up, says the process \u201ctook two weeks. We had to tell him about our teacher and our class and the school mascot and our school name. And then we programmed him on a computer.\u201d<\/p>\n