TXN
If you had a GameBoy growing up, there’s a very good chance you devoted countless hours to playing Pokémon. You may have even gotten your hands on a Pokédex toy that left a bit to be desired compared to its video game counterpart, but one man has managed to make one that actually works in real life.
The Pokémon games largely revolve around catching and training the creatures you use to fight other trainers you encounter during your digital journey, but the ultimate end goal is to “catch ’em all.”
The original Pokémon titles (Red and Blue) featured a grand total of 151 species (a number that has risen to more than 1,000 over the decades), and you were able to keep track of your collection with the help of the Pokédex, a device dreamed up by Professor Oak that’s capable of identifying Pokémon and providing a summary of their traits.
The Pokédex is obviously a fictional sidekick that wouldn’t have much utility in a world that is not roamed by creatures waiting to pounce at you whenever you wander into some particularly tall grass. With that said, one man was able to whip up his own version by combining his engineering skills with ChatGPT.
The YouTuber behind the Abe’s Projects channel recently set out to make a functioning Pokédex, which was inspired by the toy version that was all the rage in the 1990s.
The project was pretty involved, as he had to design the 3D-printed case that contained the technological components that helped him realize his vision. That part of things actually seemed to be a bit more straightforward than his attempts to get that tech to work, as recreating the Pokédex voice and getting the images to show up on the screen required a fair amount of trial and error.
The final product wasn’t infallible, but it did manage to correctly identify two of the three Pokémon he snapped pictures of after running the photos through ChatGPT. Say what you will about A.I., but this is a pretty solid use for it.