This Microwave Only Runs When You Scream at It

Most of us have gotten mad enough to scream at an appliance before. Perhaps the oven was taking too long to preheat, or maybe the toaster burns one half of your bagel and leaves the other half room temperature. But what if an appliance only worked when you screamed at it? That’s the case with Michael Reeves’ newest project, and the results are hilarious.

Reeves is a YouTube maker known for his absurd creations, like a robot that pours water on itself and a cup that tazes you if you don’t chug your beer quickly enough. Because he’s made a name for himself building silly projects, he gets a lot of awful project suggestions from his fans. That’s where this idea came from, and he decided to actually build it. The premise is simple: it’s a microwave that will only run when it’s being screamed at.

To build it, Reeves started by removing the keypad to a microwave. He then attached relays to turn the microwave on or off. Those relays are connected to an Arduino Uno, which also has a microphone connected. The Arduino constantly monitors the sound levels coming from the microphone, and if they are high enough it will toggle the relays and turn the microwave on.

Predictably, the microwave proved to be quite frustrating to use. As soon as a hungry user stops yelling, the microwave will immediately turn off. That means they have to constantly scream at it to keep it running long enough to cook food. Reeves even showed the scream-powered microwave off during a presentation at VidCon 2019, where the crowd shouted in unison to heat up an orange.