Hack Your Furby Into Zombie Furby!

Hmm, a rainy day find at Goodwill...a crusty old Furby with one broken ear for only $1.99!!!
..what to do, what to do?
Well ToysRUs happens to have the "Megaphone Voice Changer" on sale for only $4.50.
How about a little circuit bending and let's see if we can create a Zombie Furby!

Caution, some people feel Furbies (the Hasbro toy first seen in 1998) are creepy right from the start.
While working on this project you should probably post warning signs outside your workshop....no need to freak out a curious passer-by ;-)

This Instructable will:

1. give you a look at the insides of the classic Furby
2. walk you through the steps of skinning the poor guy
3. provide some details about his sensor system
4. reveal rare video of the evil Zombie Furby including his new spooky voice.
   

(This Instructable submitted by the Rabbit-Hole Maker Space as part of the Instructables Sponsorship Program.)

Step 1: Why Do You Think He Removes Their Skins, Agent Starling?

Skinning Furby
Skinning only makes sense here...this Furby was "well loved" shall we say...and besides, he'll look scary with just his innards showing. Besides we need to get at all those sensors.

To remove the fur in one piece, start by turning Furby over.
On the bottom back edge, use a sharp knife to reveal a zip tie that's holding the fur in place. Snip that zip.
Carefully peel back the fur, note that the ears are sewn in place at the very top, just another snip on each an you're almost there.
The top of the head has a bit of glue that's easy to scrape away and that's it.

An Ectoskelton? - now you're left with a plastic shell covering the Furby innards. Easy enough, just a few tiny screws on each side and you can pull it off the top.  As you do, carefully pop the microphone out of it's holding place (it's held in simply by friction)

Sensors anyone?
The Furby interacts with the world by the following sensors:

1. Light Sensor in the forehead - Furby likes to sleep alot, but light will wake him up. 
2. IR Sensor and Transmitter in the forehead - with multiple Furbies in the room they can talk to each other (Egad the horrors!)
3. Tongue Sensor - Furby gets hungry alot, I found if I press his tongue with a screwdriver he says "Yummy" (I prefer a bit more Vodka in my screwdrivers)   
4. Belly Sensor - a switch over the speaker activates when you pet or tickle his belly
   - do Zombies giggle? Furbies do!
5. Sound Sensor - we already mentioned the little microphone that's on Furby's right side. Furby complains about loud noises.
6. Tipover Sensor (not a Mercury switch see comments) - of some type, as Furby can tell when he's been turned upside down

Step 2: Voice Transforming Megaphone

ToysRUs Hack
The Megaphone Voice Changer by Toysmith seemed like a fun and cheap way to transform Furby's cute little voice into something more sinister. It features 4 voice choices, Kid, Boy, Old Man and my favorite, Robot!

Changes required for the Voice Changer:

1. Snip off the microphone and do the same to Furby's speaker
2. Attach the microphone wires directly to the speaker wires of Furby.
3. Disconnect the on/off switch of the voice transformer (probably will have to put this back in place since batteries go way too fast as is)
4. Furby needed more volume, so I snipped the speaker wire and attached it to a microphone cable (another Goodwill find) and sent Furby Sound into my Cigar Box Guitar Amp (Instructable Here) 
5. I Added a Potentiometer into the line here to try to smooth out the sound ...mixed reviews on that step...may have to play with it a bit. 
6. The Megaphone makes a fine stand....for now anyway
7. Optional: Since the Megaphone has it's own battery, you can simply remove the battery to revert to "normal" Furby sound.  

Step 3: Let's Hear Zombie Furby in Action

Powered up and ready to freak !

Removing the transformer battery to revert to "normal" Furby sounds

First efforts hacking into Furby