SquawkersMcGraw

SquawkersMcGraw

Reverse engineering and remixing the Hasbro FurReal Friend "Squawkers McGraw" animatronic parrot

Internals

The main control board in mounted in the middle of the parrot's back, with wires to the separate components located around the body as follows:

Inputs

There are a variety of switches and sensor inputs, as follows:

• Light sensor), connected via Red, Black, Grey, White wires to a seperate control daughterboard located at the base of the head.
• Tongue switch (head), connected via 2x Blue wires (one ground).
• Eyelid limit switches - one is pressed when eyes are fully-open (2x Orange wires, one is ground), and one switch pressed when they are fully-closed (2x Purple wires, one is ground). When neither switch is pressed, eyes are in the neutral position.
• Leg switch, located on the left leg, is pressed at certain positions during the parrot's body movement.

Outputs

All the movements are controlled via only two DC hobby motors. By using a clever CAM system, reversing the direction of the motors can trigger different actuators.

• Eyelid and mouth movement are both controlled from the one motor located in the head, connected via slightly thicker Blue and Purple wires.
• Wings and fully body tilt are controlled from a second motor, located at the hips, connected via White and Grey wire.

Infrared Controller

The controller has a three position switch, three play mode buttons, 6 program buttons, and a custom record button. It appears to broadcast command strings using the common 38kHz carrier frequency. For a non-destructive method of controlling Squawkers McGraw, you can simply transmit these same command codes to trigger any of the built-in behaviours.

The following command strings were grabbed using an Arduino and the InfraRed signal analyser code described at https://www.patreon.com/posts/infrared-puzzle-28343366

Response Mode

// Repeat Button
unsigned int repeatData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000};

// Dance (same in every mode)
unsigned int danceData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000};

// Reset (same in every mode)
unsigned int resetData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};

// Buttons
unsigned int aData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int bData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};
unsigned int cData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int dData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000};
unsigned int eData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int fData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};

// Custom Record
unsigned int customRecordData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};

Command Mode

// Repeat Button (same for Command and Gags)
unsigned int repeatData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};

// Dance (same in every mode)
unsigned int danceData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000};

// Reset (same in every mode)
unsigned int resetData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};

// Buttons
unsigned int aData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};
unsigned int bData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int cData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000};
unsigned int dData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1100,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1100,2000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int eData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};
unsigned int fData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};

// Custom Record [same as Response]
unsigned int customRecordData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};

Gags Mode

// Repeat Button (same for Command and Gags)
unsigned int repeatData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};

// Dance (same in every mode)
unsigned int danceData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000};

// Reset (same in every mode)
unsigned int resetData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};

// Buttons
unsigned int aData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int bData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000};
unsigned int cData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int dData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000};
unsigned int eData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000,2000,2000,1000,2000,1000,1000};
unsigned int fData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1100,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000};

// Custom Record
unsigned int customRecordData[17] = {3000,3000,1000,2000,2000,1000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000,2000,1000};

Hacking the Parrot

To completely customise the parrot's behaviour requires a more destructive modification - breaking the connections to the control board and instead wiring the inputs and outputs to a processor such as an Arduino, as follows:

Note that each of the sensors illustrated actually consists of a pair of wires - one input signal, and one ground wire (with the controller having onboard INPUT_PULLUPs for when the inputs are not triggered). The code used to control such a modified controller is demonstrated in an Arduino .ino sketch in this repository.