Give your creation a pair of eyes

A carved pumpkin already has a face. Give it a pair of moving eyes, and suddenly it has a personality. It glances across the room, looks mildly suspicious, and makes people stop for a second look.

Meet S.T.A.R.E. — Smart Twin Animated Roving Eyes: a pair of animated eye displays for pumpkins, robots, props and whatever curious creature you are building next.

Made by GurgleApps, under the watchful supervision of Lord Clive P. Gourdsbury, it arrives with the software already installed. Connect the supplied components, plug in USB power, and the eyes come to life.

• Give your creation a pair of eyes
• From a pumpkin to a personality
• Plug in, and let them stare
• A control panel with a little Victorian machinery
• Choose an eye, or make your own
• For makers who want to take control
• One pair of eyes, plenty of characters
• The prototype that made us keep going
• What will you bring to life?

From a pumpkin to a personality

Eyes do a surprising amount of the work of bringing a character to life. A different colour, a smaller pupil or a wandering glance can turn the same face from friendly to unsettling.

For Halloween, tuck the displays behind the eye openings of a carved pumpkin or build them into a handmade monster. For a robot, use them as the face that gives your creation its character. They work just as well in a theatrical prop, a model creature or a decoration that looks back at you.

Each eye is a 1.28-inch round TFT display with a 240 × 240-pixel resolution. The supplied connecting leads let you position the eyes in your own build, rather than having to design everything around a fixed face.

Keep the electronics dry and protected when fitting them inside a real pumpkin. The kit is not waterproof, and it should not share a pumpkin with a candle or other flame.

Plug in, and let them stare

You do not need to write code or flash firmware to get started. The ESP32 arrives with the eye software preloaded, and the connections are solder-free.

Every Electronics Kit includes:

• 1 × S.T.A.R.E. circuit board
• 1 × ESP32 with preloaded eye software
• 2 × TFT eye displays
• 2 × 7-pin Dupont connecting leads
• 1 × Micro USB cable

Connect the displays and ESP32 to the board, then attach the cable to a suitable USB power source. The eyes boot up and animate without needing a phone connected.

A USB power supply is not included.

You can leave them running like that, or open the control panel and start making the character your own.

A control panel with a little Victorian machinery

We have spent months developing the software and its control panel. It would have been easy to make a page of sliders. Lord Clive had rather more elaborate ideas.

The interface takes its inspiration from Victorian machinery and an inventor’s workshop: brass surrounds, dark enamel, curious specimens beneath bell jars, and a cabinet of eyes waiting to be put to work.

Underneath that character is a practical browser-based control panel. Use your phone or computer to choose eyes and change settings.

You can also connect S.T.A.R.E. to your home Wi-Fi, making it easier to reach from devices on the same network. The eyes keep animating without you having to leave the control panel open.

Choose an eye, or make your own

Start with one of our supplied eye designs, then explore the Workshop when you want something more personal.

Adjust the iris size, colours and patterns; change the pupil’s shape and proportions; and choose reflections and the surrounding eye colours. Go for a natural-looking iris, a slit-pupil creature, a bright cartoon character or something considerably less sensible.

You can also import your own iris artwork, giving artists and makers another way to build a character around their own style.

Try a design on the physical displays while you work, then save the finished eye to your Collection. Settle on a favourite, or use the Exhibition controls to cycle through saved eyes.

Movement adds another layer of personality. Adjust the wandering gaze and its pace, or arrange a sequence of looks. A slow glance and a quick dart across the room can make the same artwork feel like two different characters.

For makers who want to take control

S.T.A.R.E. is ready to use without programming, but we also wanted it to fit into bigger electronic projects.

The local API lets your own code communicate with the eyes over your network. HTTP and WebSocket commands can select eye designs, change settings and control the gaze.

That opens up possibilities such as:

• A robot looking in a direction chosen by its controller.
• A prop changing its eyes at a particular moment.
• A creature reacting when your own sensor code detects something nearby.

You provide the logic for the project; S.T.A.R.E. provides the animated eyes.

If you just want a pumpkin that stares, you can happily ignore the API. If you enjoy hacking around, there is room to go much further.

One pair of eyes, plenty of characters

For a character you can stand on a shelf or desk, choose the optional Display Stand & Eye Mount.

Two support feet hold the circuit board, while the glasses-style frame holds the displays and provides slots for our interchangeable laminated faces.

Swap the face and change the eye design, and the same electronics can become a Halloween skull, a pumpkin or Lord Clive himself. It also gives you a starting point for characters for Christmas, birthdays and other occasions.

Our laminated faces are optional and sold separately. They require the Display Stand & Eye Mount; the Electronics Kit is the option for fitting the eyes into your own projects.

Explore the S.T.A.R.E. character faces.

The prototype that made us keep going

We took an early S.T.A.R.E. prototype to Makers Central. It was a much rougher version of the product you see now, but people could already see what it might become.

Visitors stopped to look, talked to us about their own projects, and some wanted to buy it in the state it was in.

That enthusiasm meant a lot. It gave us the push to concentrate on the hardware, develop the software and turn the prototype into something we could put into other makers’ hands.

Since then, the project has grown into a plug-in kit with its own control panel, a Workshop for creating eyes, and an API for people who want to connect it to their own inventions.

We are excited to see where those eyes end up next.

What will you bring to life?

A pumpkin for the doorstep. A robot with an attitude. A handmade creature that suddenly seems rather more alive.

Choose the Electronics Kit for your own build, or Kit + Display Stand for a character ready to wear interchangeable faces.

Get your S.T.A.R.E. animated eyes kit.

Lord Clive calls it The Engine of Unnecessary Vigilance. Your creation may simply call it a pair of eyes.