Hardware · build

A Zoltar-style fortune teller that talks back

Lillith is an animated fortune teller with servos, synthesized speech and a button that dispenses a prophecy slightly better than a takeaway fortune cookie.

Build sheet

Type: Animatronic fortune teller
Motion: Servos
Audio: Voice generation
Build time: About four months

Can I build this?Advanced · AI 3/5 · $150–400

Difficulty: Advanced
AI-buildability: 3/5
Time: A month or more
Cost: $150–400

Tools

soldering iron3D printerpower supplyhand tools

Starter prompt

Based on "A Zoltar-style fortune teller that talks back" on Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/a-zoltar-style-fortune-teller-that-talks-back

Help me build an animatronic fortune teller on a Raspberry Pi. Use two or more hobby servos driven by a PCA9685 board, a momentary arcade button to trigger a reading, and offline text-to-speech to speak a random fortune from a list. While idle, play slow random servo movements to attract passersby.

Estimates based on the original write-up. How AI-buildability is scored. Building with an AI assistant? Connect it to Afterware (free MCP server).

Story

Remember Zoltar in the arcade, or the fortune teller in the movie Big? Lillith is a build in that tradition. Servos move the figure while a voice generator delivers the reading once someone hits the button.

Between customers, the servos run small idle animations to pull in the next person. The build took about four months, according to the write-up, and the maker documented a roadmap others can follow. The post notes Lillith sits indoors rather than in a public venue, and that an outdoor version would need a tougher enclosure.

Resources · 1

Build guide (Instructables)

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