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Billy Bass

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Last Updated on Saturday, January 22, 2011

Written by Rick Swenton

Do-It-Yourself Hacked Billy Bass

For the unfamiliar, Big Mouth Billy Bass is an animatronic toy in the form of a mounted fish. When stimulated by a button press or proximity of a human, the fish comes to life, singing and wiggling to one of two preprogrammed tunes.

The secret of Billy’s success is his behavior—certainly not his appearance nor singing ability! The essence or personality of the toy resides in a small CMOS chip, no larger than a fingernail.

By replacing that preprogrammed chip with a Linux-based computer or a fully programmable embedded controller, perhaps we can create a Billy whose novelty never wears.

Click Here for a cool video of Billy Bass does Bill Clinton.  Click Here to go to the web site.

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