Emotion Egg

Press the button on its crown and the face in the window turns to the next mood.

A desk egg with 5 faces printed round a drum inside. There is no battery and no motor: your thumb is the whole drive, working the same click-and-turn cam you know from a retractable pen.

The Emotion Egg in tan PETG with its blush core showing a happy face through the window, the button standing proud on the crown.

Happy, for now

At rest the core sits with one face centred in the window. The other four wait out of sight round the back of the drum.

It starts at your thumb

Nothing else drives this egg. Press the button on the crown and it slides straight down. It is not free to turn, so all it can do is push.

A push becomes a turn

Under the shell, the button's sawtooth tip meets a rotor with 5 matching teeth. The rotor drops out of the fixed collar, squeezes the spring and is shoved half a tooth round.

The spring finishes it

Let go and the spring lifts the rotor back into the collar. The collar's ramps turn it the other half tooth, 72° in all, and it seats there.

Surprised

The rotor slides on 5 keys inside the drum, so the drum turns with it, and the next face lands in the window.

And round again

Surprised, sleepy, sad, angry. Press number 5 brings happy back, and the cycle starts over.

Five moods, in the order the button gives them

  1. Happy: arched eyes and an open smile in the window.Happyat rest
  2. Surprised: round dot eyes and a small open mouth.Surprised1 press
  3. Sleepy: closed curved eyes and a flat line mouth.Sleepy2 presses
  4. Sad: slanted brows, a tear under one eye and a downturned mouth.Sad3 presses
  5. Angry: brows pulled down and a zigzag mouth.Angry4 presses

Each press turns the core 72°, one fifth of a circle, so every face comes round in order and none can be skipped.

Exploded view up the egg's axis: button, shell, collar, rotor, spring, face drum and base.

Twist it open

The shell twists off the base. That is how the egg goes together, and how the face core comes out. From the top down:

Button
The crown you press. It slides and never turns.
Shell
The egg, with its window. The collar is fixed inside its crown.
Collar
The fixed crown. Its ramps finish every turn.
Rotor
Carries the cam teeth and turns the drum.
Spring
Lifts the rotor back after each press.
Drum
The face core: 5 expressions in black on blush.
Base
The foot, and the post the drum spins on.

What you get

Size
3.1 × 3.1 × 3.8 in
Weight
4.0 oz
Faces
5, turned 72° per press
Parts
6 printed, plus one return spring
Print time
9.1 hours
Power
Your thumb

Set it on the desk and let the face say how the day is going.