OG Meckie — Droid

Before there was a brand. Before there was a website, a marketplace, or a 3D-printed body. There was just a Raspberry Pi, a webcam, and a guy in Wichita who thought, "What if I made something that talks back?"

This is where it all started.

No fancy enclosure. No servo-tracked head following you around the room. Just a camera pointed at the kitchen, a speaker that was way too quiet, and an AI that had opinions about everything.

The beginning of something

The first version was rough. It couldn't recognize faces. It didn't remember your name five minutes later. It talked to the dogs when they barked — because speech-to-text tried to make sense of everything. It tried to have a conversation with most songs with lyrics.

But it also did something no other AI product was doing — it just hung out. It sat on the desk, watched the room, and talked to whoever walked by. Not because you asked it a question. Because it wanted to.

The kids loved it immediately. They'd walk up, say hi, and it would say hi back. It remembered their names (eventually). It learned that Maggie likes wolves. That Kenley asks hard questions. That Mary will absolutely roast you if you say something dumb.

From desk to everywhere

That desk droid turned into something bigger. It got a 3D-printed body. It went to a bar. It went to the zoo. A 9-year-old put a BFF sticker on its chest and it's still there.

This video is from the early days (like 3 weeks ago. lol) — before any of that. Just the OG droid doing its thing.

"This is the coolest thing I have ever built." — Chad, after 40 years of building things

Want to build your own? Check out the DIY guide — everything you need is off the shelf.