Juan, the talking AI cactus at Technopolis
Juan is the star of the AI zone at Technopolis. Hold a button, ask him anything in Dutch, English or French, and get sarcasm back in seconds.
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Make visitors think about AI
Walls of text do not work on twelve year olds, so Technopolis asked for exhibits that answer back.
For its AI zone, Technopolis in Mechelen wanted everyone, young and old, to leave with an informed opinion on artificial intelligence. Not through a lecture, but, for some magical amazing reason, through a feisty prickly cactus that can have conversations. We built four exhibits for the zone: a talking cactus, an emotion camera, an ocean cleanup game and a machine that dreams up cats.
The star is definitely Juan, a grumpy cactus you can argue with. The zone made national news three times, and Juan has been holding court since October 2024. This one prickly character does more for AI literacy than any explainer panel we could have written. We would hug Juan in gratitude but we can’t since he’s a cactus.
Opening of the AI zone of Technopolis with Lieven Scheire
Meet Juan, our prickliest character yet
Sarcastic, quick, but happy and a short-term memory.
Juan talks in real time. Press one of his three physical language buttons (Dutch, English, French), hold the talk button, say your piece, and let go. The reply comes back fast enough to feel like a real conversation, and it comes back with spines: Juan is prickly, sarcastic, and not above a witty insult. Try one on him and he gives as good as he gets.
He also remembers what you just asked, so the conversation builds instead of resetting after every question. Installed in October 2024, he is still at his post today. The only repair in almost two years was a worn microphone, replaced in April 2026; the software never missed a day.
Juan at his post: a microphone, three language buttons, and opinions.
- Insult him and he insults back, wittily. Bring your friends and see who handles the prickly attitude best.
- Three languages on physical buttons: Dutch, English and French, no menus, no touchscreen.
- He usually has a cool moustache, but the kids keep stealing it. He’s probably on his 27th moustache of the season. We’ll keep adding more moustaches forever!
Four exhibits, one zone
Juan pulls you in, and three more exhibits finish the job.
Juan, the grumpy talking cactus
Talk to an AI character in real time and find out what a language model with a personality feels like. Juan sets the tone for the whole zone.
- Prickly and sarcastic, with the occasional witty insult.
- Fast replies, so it feels like a real conversation.
- Short-term memory: he remembers what you asked before.
The emotion camera at the exit
On your way out, a camera asks one question: are you feeling good or bad about the AI revolution? You answer with your face.
- Look happy, angry or sad: facial recognition reads it.
- Every answer is tallied into a live graph of all visitors’ moods.
- A live mood ring for your face, and a lesson in what cameras can read.
AI 4 Oceans
An ocean cleanup game inspired by code.org: train an AI to fish plastic out of virtual oceans and watch what happens when you train it badly.
- Clean virtual oceans with AI tools you train yourself.
- Garbage in, garbage out: faulty data ruins the model.
- Shows exactly what goes wrong when training data is lacking.
AI generated cats
A GAN learns to generate ever more realistic cat pictures while you play the judge: is that cat real or AI made?
- Guess it: real cat or AI cat?
- Generator versus discriminator, explained by playing.
- Watch the fakes get better the longer the network learns.
Real cat or AI cat?
One of the four exhibits, the AI generated cats, caught on camera.
See it played
A quick playthrough of the AI cats exhibit. The GAN generates the cats; you play the discriminator.
Three steps, no app
A microphone and three language buttons. That is the whole interface.
Press a language
Dutch, English or French, one physical button each. Nothing to download, nothing to scan, nothing to log into.
Hold and talk
Hold the button, say what you have to say, let go. Teenagers work this out faster than their parents.
Juan bites back
A sarcastic answer, fast enough to feel like a real conversation. And he remembers your last question, so keep going.
Attitude beats politeness
Four things a grumpy cactus taught us about getting teenagers to think.
Attitude is the hook
A polite assistant gets one question. A cactus that teases you gets a crowd, because everyone wants to hear what he says next.
Teenagers test limits
The target audience of twelve and up will try to break any AI you give them. Juan is built for it, he can dish it and take it.
Memory makes it a conversation
Because Juan remembers your last question, so follow-ups land, which turns a gimmick into a dialogue.
Most popular in the exhibit
Kids flock to Juan. because his answer are played on speakers, it’s not a private conversation but a group talk.
Lieven Scheire and Dries De Geyter, stopping for a selfie with Juan.
Technopolis agrees. In August 2026 they asked us to give heyWowza, the Talking Point that has greeted their visitors since February 2026, the same button principle Juan uses: three language buttons and one push to talk. When a venue copies your interface onto its newest exhibit, the interface works.
Suzanne Verheyen of Technopolis on working with us.
What science centres ask us first
Is a sarcastic cactus not too rude for children?
Juan is sarcastic, not offensive. He teases but he never crosses the line, and the museum gets to decide the tone: how sharp the character gets, is actually a sliding scale they control.
Which languages does Juan speak?
Dutch, English and French, each on its own physical button. The system is not limited to three; the language mix follows your visitor mix.
Does the character have to be a cactus?
No. A cactus, a painting, a statue, a mascot, anything with a personality (or in need of personality) works.
What about the other three exhibits?
The emotion camera, AI 4 Oceans and the AI cats were built and delivered as one package with Juan, so four angles on the same topic, spread through one zone.
The same idea at other venues
The same idea in a history museum, an art museum and a nature park. Newest work first.
Want your science exhibit to talk back?
Tell us which exhibit you would give a voice first. We will tell you honestly whether it needs spines.
