Grogu Animatronic - DONE! (For now)

[joberg]

Looking scary without the skin...eager to see your next update

 

[Halliwax]

I vote this for rpf build of the year

 

[MattWinchell]

I vote this for rpf build of the year

You're too kind!

Halfway down with the gluedown! In other news, I saw the eclipse yesterday. My friend took this picture.

 

[MattWinchell]

Video will be out soon....

 

[MattWinchell]

Hi everyone!

Here is a demo video of all the mechanisms tested separately. I'm planning on puppeteering the full puppet with two more people hopefully during the weekend. I do have to polish up a few more areas but he's pretty much there. The neck is wayyy too snappy so I will tone that down.

Thanks for following this thread and showing your support! Truly means a lot.

 

[RSutter]

Looks amazing, Matt!

 

[Halliwax]

Hi everyone!

Here is a demo video of all the mechanisms tested separately. I'm planning on puppeteering the full puppet with two more people hopefully during the weekend. I do have to polish up a few more areas but he's pretty much there. The neck is wayyy too snappy so I will tone that down.

Thanks for following this thread and showing your support! Truly means a lot.

Wicked

 

[MattWinchell]

Hi everyone!

Here is a better video of it all running together! Enjoy

 

[Halliwax]

My just be me, but I can’t get the video to play

 

[MattWinchell]

My just be me, but I can’t get the video to play

All fixed! Had to blur a portion of the video.

 

[Halliwax]

All fixed! Had to blur a portion of the video.

Incredible buddy

 

[MattWinchell]

Incredible buddy

Thank you!

 

[joberg]

Great movements...I know that it's a WIP still. I'm sure that the motions of various parts of the head will be less jittery/stacato with a more solid body. I've noticed that most of the positives have negatives, i.e.: the body needs to be stiffer to avoid moving with the head.
As for the neck, is it possible to put pieces of foam (without hindering the servos) to make for a more natural motion? The foam could act as a "rubbing" motion break to permit less of stacato movements.

 

[MattWinchell]

Great movements...I know that it's a WIP still. I'm sure that the motions of various parts of the head will be less jittery/stacato with a more solid body. I've noticed that most of the positives have negatives, i.e.: the body needs to be stiffer to avoid moving with the head.
As for the neck, is it possible to put pieces of foam (without hindering the servos) to make for a more natural motion? The foam could act as a "rubbing" motion break to permit less of stacato movements.

Yah absolutely. I think to remedy the shaking I would just lay a strip of carpet tape on the bottom of the stand to absorb most of the shake.

Good observation on the neck. It's currently left loose so I could make quick repairs if need be. I could totally add some sort of rubber tabs to keep it in place.

 

[MattWinchell]

Added the video to the front page of the thread.

 

[aminow]

I see Adam Savage reviewing this Grogu Animatronic but the link to purchase does not work. How can purchase one for my enormous collection

 

[Sixxgunn13]

Watching it right now!!

 

[AniMattronics]

Hi everyone,

I have been working on my own personal animatronic Grogu on and off for the past year and am getting close to finishing him. I'm setting a goal of April 10th. (let's see if that pans out)

EDIT: I am writing this on 4/15/24. I have Grogu in a pretty comfortable spot. I will add smoothing in the future. Here is the main video so you don't have to scroll for it:

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to show some of the progress that I have made over the past year. I'm still in my junior year of college so I have a bit more time left to take courses that might prove useful for this field.

My animatronic Grogu will have the following mechanisms:
- Eyes
- Eyelids
- Ears (each separately controlled)
- Brow
- Smile
- Mouth
- Full neck articulation

There are 18 total servos. 8 servos in the head, 10 servos in the body.

I'm planning on using the Sideshow cloak for the clothing. I'll also hack off the hands and feet. At some point, i'll replace the hands with a silicone pull that will integrate pick points for puppeteering.

I designed all the mechanisms in Solidworks and my professor Ralph Sutter designed the digital sculpt of Grogu in Zbrush. I went through the motions of converting the STL into quads, then into a NURB surface that Solidworks could import.

All the 3D printed parts are in Nylon and were grown on an SLS printer with a few FDM parts here and there. The main plate spanning the center of the head and a few linkages are in aluminum.

My good buddy Nicholas Winstead did the silicone head pull and painted the eyes.

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Trying to organize what would become a cable nightmare Head sculpts arrive!


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The painter who did the head did an incredible job. Incredible eye work by Nicholas

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Back of the brains! So cute huh?

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Cable nightmare Standing tall!

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Clothing fit test.

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Here's my desk setup for those who are curious.

View attachment 1806382

What kind of cable housings are you using? i've had trouble finding ones like that for my animatronics

 

[joberg]

Added the video to the front page of the thread.

Very good stuff...

 

[MattWinchell]

Hi yal! Just noticed the Tested video. What a coincidence haha. The one they featured is not my own. This one would be mine:

Julio's looks absolutely incredible! Hats off to him for getting featured, much deserved.