This was a bit of a fun project – I've seen on the movies (or maybe Scooby Doo) pictures where the eyes follow you and wanted something similar in my house. Also, from a practical standpoint, I often get caught out without an umbrella in rainy England so I wanted something that would tell me the weather forecast at a glance.
The owl's eyes are driven by servo motors and connected to an internet-connected microcontroller that fetches weather data. The eyes move to track people walking past, and also change colour or blink to indicate the weather forecast for the day.
It's a great conversation piece and actually quite useful — I just glance at the owl before heading out and know whether to grab an umbrella.