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+David Johnson Hi David, The remotes for these things are very rare. When I see them on EBay, they sell for more than the bird! If I could get my hands on one, I'd snag it and pull the programming codes out of it. Then, I could use the original board. I ended up ripping out the board and doing everything via the Raspberry Pi. I set up a remote on it using a spare TV remote I had laying around along with an IR transistor wired to the GPIOs on the Pi. I experimented with a USB microphone to do interaction. That was a good direction. But, I didn't find a small enough mic. I'm betting they're out there. Just haven't looked close enough. Before I put the parrot away for a while, I had a script randomly play different clips through the day. Funny and annoying at the same time! The Pi will boot fine via a timer or you can have a cron job run that does things through out the day. Let me know how your hacking goes!

I think it would be cool to find a remote and grab the program out of it. Always wanted to see what it could do. I have a feeling it's not granular enough for what I wanted to do though.

+Mark Evans I have a working remote. I have just set up a raspberry pi workstation. plus.google.com/107662417625154967916/posts/NQqdDvLLEFG I tried a linksprite IR shield and had problems with LIRC. I have IR receiver and transmitter modules on the way (on the slow boat from china) I have an xprotolab 2 channel oscilloscope set up. I plan on using it to detect and decode the output from the IR remote for all of its functions. If you like we can arrange a time and do a hangout once I get setup to gather data. Once I have my data, I would be willing to lend you the remote for non destructive testing. I haven't opened the remote up because I believe that it is simple enough just to interrogate it for the various output sequences. Let me know if you are still interested. My plan is to interface a Pi zero, motion detector with the parrot along with a cash register printer for a coin operated fortune and advice giving parrot. a "Polly wants some money" piggy bank. Nothing commercial, just putting my parrot for home entertainment.

The IR remote I used is one you can get over at AdaFruit goo.gl/WQ9lyQ They've got a great primer on using it here: goo.gl/TYB7Hc I just wrote a quickie python script to call my vixen reader (see below). I've got about 8 or so "acts" for the parrot and they can be called up via the remote. Next up for the parrot will be to replicate the voice recognition the parrot can do.

Hi Garth. Been meaning to do that. Life's been getting in the way :). I do have a flikr album with teardown photos here: www.flickr.com/photos/48154193@N00/sets/72157637727178695/ and more here: www.flickr.com/photos/48154193@N00/sets/72157637653178033/ I haven't put the other stuff together yet. But that should get you started. feel free to ask questions at mark.a.evans@gmail.com. I'll do my best to answer.

see above Bracken. I'd be glad to answer in more detail. I'm actually taking the output files from the VSA and I wrote a quick "C" program to convert the data to be used with a raspberry Pi to drive the gpios. I used a RaspiRobot board (www.sparkfun.com/products/11561) for the dual motor control (one body motor, one head motor). The board has an H-Block that can drive the motor forward/backward. Holler as you get started. I'd be glad to send tips. mark.a.evans@gmail.com

Mark Evans Great thanks. After visiting sparkfun's page and looking at your above listed inventory, I am a bit confused on which sparkfun components I will need to purchase. Please advise.

Bracken OK. Here's the Hardware portion of what's needed: 1) A raspberry pi - If you've never used one of these, I highly recommend AdaFruit's package: www.adafruit.com/products/1014.They've got a ton of videos on their site to get you started. Also, check out RUclips for other great stuff to learn how to use the RPi. 2) A RaspiRobot Board - www.sparkfun.com/products/11561. This has a dual "H-Block" motor control to run dual motors. The Parrot as two; one in the head and another in the body. Simon Monk has two versions of these boards. I used his first version and have been happy with the result. Version 2 has a switching DC regulator to drive the motors with. Looks to be more robust. I got one recently. But, I haven't had a chance to play with it. 3) The Parrot -- of course. You can find these "Squawkers McCaws" on EBay under 40$ for working models. Seems they are collectors items and easily go for >100$ if the remote and stand. You don't need any of that. 4) Patience.... Lot's of patience. Start by dissecting the parrot. you'll find that the body is cam operated and it goes through its motions over a 5 second period. there's a limit switch to know where "home" is. To get the movement, you'll divide up the circuit and rotate the motor forward/reverse across the action you want. Same with the head but it has just two actions: Clockwise, opens his beak; Counter-Clockwise blinks his eyes. There's limit switches there too. But, they're really fast. That's why I had to drop down to "C" to do the programming. On the software side, Simon recommends (and so do I), that you use Gordon's WiringPi library. He's got bindings for just about any language you can think of. I used both they python and "C" ones. Dead simple to use. On the music side, I used the Vixen Lights Version 2 sequencing software. www.vixenlights.com/. They've got a better version 3 available. But, I couldn't figure out how to decode their output file (on the "to do" list). But, their V2 output was easy to figure out and I wrote python and "C" wrappers to read and active the RPi with it. Then, I simply fired off the MP3 and ran the program in parallel. Once you get to the sequencing step, give me a holler and I'd be glad to share some of that stuff. I really appreciate the stufff both Simon and Gordon have already posted on the web that helped me get it all up and running. It was fun getting my own "Tiki Bird" running. It's like Walt is in the room!

Hi Mark, Nice job! I have a pneumatic tiki bird clone I started maybe 25 years ago. I've wanted to convert it to servos and stubbled upon this. I was wondering if these worked like the Furby, with cams controlling multiple movements per motor and it looks like the answer is yes. Mine has a polycarbonate shell to give the body shape but I never did get any "skin" on it. I think I may buy one of these to play with. Thanks for your efforts!

I've got everything documented and am slowly getting things up online. if you'd like to see the teardown of the Squawkers McCaw, I've got that posted on Flikr. initial teardown: <a href="www.flickr.com/photos/48154193@N00/sets/72157637727178695/">www.flickr.com/photos/48154193@N00/sets/72157637727178695/</a><p/> Here's another set from before Thanksgiving: www.flickr.com/photos/48154193@N00/sets/72157637653178033/ <p/> the control is via a raspberry pi into a raspirobot shield. It's ideal since it has two h-blocks for forward/reverse of two motors along with a couple of inputs for the home switches. I'm using WiringPi for the GPIO control. And, I'm using Vixen Lights for the beak sequencing. I wrote a little "C" program that interprets the data. I'm planning on putting more about that online soon.

Mark Evans thank you, wow, the documenting pics are great. I'am thrilled to see more soon