Custom anamatronics rig

[omegaforgeprops]

I have been working on thia rig for over a year now and is almost done. Its the most intricate thing I have ever made. Its a wireless arduino based anamatronics platform. It started out alyls adding lights to a rod puppet a friend owned. Next we wanted to add sevos to control the head. The V1 of that was ok but had alot of limitations and got stuck.

I designed the PCB for the remote and the receiver my self, they run on 3.3v lipos and have an arduino pro micro as the brain. I use nrf24l01 for the wireless and neopixels for lights.

I am almost done and after I finish upgrading my friends puppet I want to build my own from scratch. I might do a dragon or something else.

I had a hard time building this because I saw nothing online like it I could reference for its construction.

Just felt like showing and getting some feedback on the project. If you want more photos let me know.

 

[TazMan2000]

That moves nicely. This could be used for any number of things.

TazMan2000

 

[omegaforgeprops]

That moves nicely. This could be used for any number of things.

TazMan2000

Thanks, it has taken over a year to get to this point.

 

[13doctorwho]

Very cool.

 

[BrundelFly]

see it as a KIT!

 

[omegaforgeprops]

Very cool.

Thank you!

 

[omegaforgeprops]

see it as a KIT!

At some point yes, I can 3d print all the pieces and provide a github for the arduino code.

 

[xl97]

+ 1 for using an Arduino and nrf24l01 module.

Use them all the time for my projects!

Fun fact: The Pro-Micro can act as a HID.. so you can plug it into a computer USB port.. and execute 'stuff' via your remote as well..

 

[omegaforgeprops]

+ 1 for using an Arduino and nrf24l01 module.

Use them all the time for my projects!

Fun fact: The Pro-Micro can act as a HID.. so you can plug it into a computer USB port.. and execute 'stuff' via your remote as well..

I just used what I knew, arduino is easy to code and I really like the form factor of the pro micro.

It took me a bit to figure out the nrf24l01 stuff. The real breakthrough was when I learned you can send data back as part of the package that acknowledges that a package was received. That way you don't need to keep switching between sending and receiving mode to have two way communication.

The other hard part is that the servos and neopixels both want to use the interrupt timers so I found a non interrupt servo library.

 

[xl97]

Yep.. conflict of libs. (common)

Especially for Servos -AND- Neopixels..

Neopixels have a high timing requirement, that needs to be updated all the time. You can use DotStars instead.. I dont believe there is any timing conflicts...

I am using nrf24l's in my Iron Man projects (so all circuits communicate together).. nice and cheap! LOL

 

[omegaforgeprops]

Yep.. conflict of libs. (common)

Especially for Servos -AND- Neopixels..

Neopixels have a high timing requirement, that needs to be updated all the time. You can use DotStars instead.. I dont believe there is any timing conflicts...

I am using nrf24l's in my Iron Man projects (so all circuits communicate together).. nice and cheap! LOL

I use knock off neopixels so they are cheap, the non timer servo library works well the only issue is that it only works with set pins on the arduino.

The nrf24l01 modules are great and the range is amazing.

 

[teslabe]

the non timer servo library works well the only issue is that it only works with set pins on the arduino.

I would have to believe that you mean the "PWM" pins of the Arduino Pro Mini, pins 3 ,5, 6 ,9, 10 and 11, right?

 

[omegaforgeprops]

I would have to believe that you mean the "PWM" pins of the Arduino Pro Mini, pins 3 ,5, 6 ,9, 10 and 11, right?

Yes I am using the PWMServo library.

 

[teslabe]

Depending on what you want your servos to do and when, this little servo controller takes the more complicated tasks away from the Arduino.
A simple state change from your Pro Mini to the Maestro and it does what you need/want the servo to do, take a look

Pololu - Micro Maestro 6-Channel USB Servo Controller (Assembled)

 

[omegaforgeprops]

Depending on what you want your servos to do and when, this little servo controller takes the more complicated tasks away from the Arduino.
A simple state change from your Pro Mini to the Maestro and it does what you need/want the servo to do, take a look

View attachment 1338825
Pololu - Micro Maestro 6-Channel USB Servo Controller (Assembled)

I thought about adding a servo controler, something to look into. Thanks!