Back then, when the Pokémon Anime When it first aired in the ’90s, almost every kid had a Pokédex – the famous red device that identified the adorable creatures – on their wish list. Almost three decades later, a YouTuber has created a real version of the Pokédex using ChatGPT – and it looks like it actually works.
Engineering hobbyist Abe’s projects, whose real name is Abe Haskins and identifies as non-binary, is a former Google engineer who began making YouTube videos about his projects after being fired. Haskins, who is now focused entirely on YouTube, posted a video about his search Build a working Pokédex Earlier this month on YouTube.
The YouTubers said they came up with the idea for the Pokédex after seeing all the cool gadgets in anime, cartoons and science fiction. One of the gadgets that caught their eye was the Pokédex, which “was just so cool that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
“I’m a big fan of prop and replica makers who take ideas from the media and aesthetically recreate them in real life. However, these projects are mostly just visual clones and largely don’t work,” Haskins said in an email to Gizmodo. “I liked the idea of doing the same thing but focusing on the technology – can we do that? Really make this work?”
Haskins had three goals: They wanted the device to be similar to the one in the anime, to recognize Pokémon in most situations, and to have a robotic voice similar to the one in the series. After creating a quick sketch of his blueprint, Haskins got to work.
First, the YouTuber 3D printed a rectangular red case for the device. It houses the components necessary to operate the Pokédex, including a camera for identifying Pokémon, a speaker, and a battery. Identification is where ChatGPT-4 come in. Haskins then uses OpenAI’s tool to analyze what the device saw and compare it to the Pokémon API, a database of Pokémon information.
Not only did AI play a role in identifying Pokémon, it also helped recreate the voice of Pokémon Nick Stellate, the actor behind the Pokédex’s voice from 1997 to 1998. Using PlayHT, an AI voice generator, Haskins cloned Stellate’s voice from a video clip. The result wasn’t a perfect replica – and in Abe’s Projects’ opinion, sometimes the voice changes completely – but it was good enough.
Although the YouTuber faced many hurdles in creating his Pokédex, including a bug that caused the device to display gibberish instead of text on the screen, the final product was a dignified, homemade Pokédex. The device wasn’t very good at identifying Pokémon plush toys, but it managed to identify Pokémon action figures and online images.
Overall, Haskins’ Pokédex is one of the best recreations of the series I’ve ever seen. It’s much better than that Original 1998 Pokédex toy from Tiger and Hasbro. The Tiger Pokédex – which had no camera to identify Pokémon –served more as a toy encyclopedia with two-frame animation. It’s still a sought-after item among Pokémon fans and I’d love to get my hands on one.
Haskins says building a Pokédex is one of the most difficult projects they’ve ever done. Although it’s not perfect, the homemade Pokédex has won over many Pokémon fans, who in the comments praised the YouTuber’s efforts and asked if they planned to put models up for sale. Unfortunately for fans, the answer is no.
“My goal is to inspire people to take on their own projects, not just buy mine — that’s no fun,” Haskins said.
Update February 9, 2024, 12:19 p.m. ET: This post has been updated with additional comment from Haskins.
This story originally published At Gizmodo.
