Rapping robot wins school science fair awards in Dunedin

By Matiu Workman

It started as a "stupid idea" between a father and son, but a tweet-rapping robot has claimed a number of awards for a Dunedin intermediate school student.

RapBot was one of more than 100 entries to the Otago Science and Technology Fair held at the Otago Museum's Hutton Theatre this week.

The quirky-looking robot, complete with chains and a teapot necklace, can either "rap" direct messages it receives, or can rap new tweets on a user's timeline.

The robot uses software and API programming to randomly select one of four rap lyrics on either side of a programmed tweet, and a beat in the background.

The end result makes Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" sound as good as it can get.

The robot was the brainchild of Balmacewen Intermediate student Isaac Randel, 12, and his father.

"[My father] just came up with a stupid idea as a joke, that we could make a robot that turns a Twitter feed into a rap," Isaac said.

"I decided that would be a good idea even though it was super stupid."

What started as a joke, however, has transformed into an award-winning project - even if he only finished the robot the day before this week's science and technology fair.

Isaac will pick up three prizes at the fair's prizegiving this Sunday, and has set his sights on the Bright Sparks competition in Auckland later this year.

Spinoffs of the robot could also be in the pipeline.

"I think it could be quite a good idea for a commercial opportunity," the entrepreneurial 12-year-old said. "I can imagine people wanting to buy a small robot that sits on your desk and raps whenever a new Tweet comes out."