Up and coming ‘engineer turned content creator’ Jake Creates decided to see what would happen if they gave viewers on Twitch control of a robot arm wielding a knife.
With Twitch chat only growing more powerful in recent years, we’ve seen a wide range of innovative streams give control over to those watching along live.
From the original ‘Twitch Plays Pokemon’ days, to the modern era of AI-generated shows stemming from ideas in Twitch chat, even to live improv shows with streamers feeding off commands from viewers, there’s been plenty of creativity in the space.
Diving head-first into the streaming world, budding TikToker Jake Creates leveraged their engineering background in a novel way earlier this week: Giving Twitch viewers full control of a robot arm equipped with a pointy blade.
Aptly titled the ‘Twitch – Arm,’ Jake spent just over two hours coding functions for a robot arm in their bedroom. While this robot arm could be controlled for all manner of beneficial reasons, they instead opted to attach a knife at the end. The target in focus, a helpless balloon.
Viewers watching along live were able to type various commands in chat. Primarily, these controlled the arm’s movement, as fans could draw its motion both vertically and horizontally, even controlling its extension as well.
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Keeping themselves out of harm’s reach, the streamer was out of frame to the side when viewers finally nailed their moment. The knife connected with the balloon, hilariously giving the streamer a fright in the process.
“That scared me more than I could have ever thought it was going to,” they joked moments after shrieking at the sudden pop.
Instantly moving to disconnect the robot from its power source now that the target was down and out, Jake assured viewers they ‘couldn’t hurt them’ with the powerful tool they’d created.
Though it seems this sharp arm of destruction is only the beginning of what Jake Creates has in mind when it comes to livestreamed-engineering feats.
Known for their quirky innovations on TikTok, with everything from a robotic plant to toaster-based gaming controller all going viral on the platform, they have one big idea in mind already for a future Twitch stream. Leveling up the equipment, Jake teased Twitch viewers will “eventually” get control of a Nerf gun.