It’s interesting how technology evolves. Simple calculators were once extremely expensive, then became cheap enough to give out as promotional items. Now everyone reading this has one programmed into their phones, making even free calculators likely too “expensive” to keep around other than as a distraction to fiddle with. On the other hand, if you really like to fiddle with electronic calculators, I can’t imagine a better model to play with than this retro talking calculator.
As seen and heard in the video below, the calculator makes a nice “clicking” sound when each button is pressed, and repeats the number to you in a robotic voice. It can also be silenced and speak with either a male or female voice depending on what you prefer.
As to why creator Bobricius made it, he says that, “It is only unpractical calculator, every phone have calculator, it is absolute useless machine …. but maybe nice :).” It does have a nice red 7-segment bubble display with 8-digits. These displays were used in some of those vintage calculators.
Want to know how it talks, dig through the code, and explore the origin of the board design? Bobricius shares all on his Hackaday.io project page.
You can check out more of Bobricius’ work at his Permi Technology Store.
