Build Instructions

Collapse

• 1

  Working with Gemini

  I first signed up on Google AI studio and got an API key. Then, I went through the documentation and wrote a simple python script to check how the API works.

  I asked Gemini for the weather for my current location. The answer tells us two things. Firstly, the output is in JSON format, and we need to extract the text from this section (see below image). Secondly, Gemini does not have access to real time information, we cannot ask it the weather. If it could, it would save us some coding effort.

  
  

  Anyway, to solve this issue, we fetch the weather from a different API called Openweathermap. I have explained how to set it up in a previous Project. Once we have the weather, we extract the temperature, humidity, and condition and send this over to Gemini.

• 2

  Prompt engineering

  After cleaning things up a bit, I was getting some pretty good results.

  But, we still have a few kinks to work out. First off, the answer is way too long to fit on our little OLED display. Secondly, Gemini's adding some extra sentences at the beginning that we don't really need. We just want that humorous sentence. And third, it doesn't quite sound like something TARS would say.

  So, to fix this, let's go on a little side quest and do some prompt engineering. Basically, we need to be a bit more specific with Gemini about what we're looking for.

  First, let's tell it to keep the answer between 50 and 60 characters. That'll be the perfect length to fit on our OLED display. Next, we'll instruct it to imagine it's a humorous AI and describe how the weather feels. Finally, we'll tell it to reply only with the humorous sentence and nothing else.

  Here's how the prompt looks like: "You're a humorous AI robot. Describe this weather in a hilarious way. Your answer should be between 50 and 60 characters. Respond with only the humorous sentence and nothing else: {weather_data}"

  As you see in the image below, now we have a perfect response!
  

• 3

  Making the body

  So, to make TARS's body, I found an awesome template on Reddit. I simply downloaded it, scaled it up just enough to fit a standard 0.96-inch OLED display, and printed it out on some nice, glossy poster paper. You can find the template PDF attached below. Make sure to print it on A3 size paper.

  Next, I carefully cut out the different sections from the template and also cut a rectangular hole where the OLED display is going to sit.

  
  

  Then, using a screwdriver, I scored along the edges to make it easier to fold, and carefully folded the paper along those lines.

  
  

View all 9 instructions