Robotic puppet animal

[Tomperys]

Hi there

I would be interested about build a robotic raven head - realistic one. I never did anything like this before, have some experince with electronics but not very much with "sculpting" the animals or more like make the main parts on hich would be the feathers and all that.

Do you have any experiance with that kind of stuff? Can you share some tips, experinces or refer me to some interesting videos about making that kind of stuffs?

Thanks for any tips

 

[Krats]

I'm in the process of building an animatronic phoenix puppet which I'm documenting >>here<<, that might have a few ideas you can use.



And Mr Chicken's blog had a good article about building an animatronic raven. The pics have been taken down because Photobucket but the video is still up.

 

[Tomperys]

Thanks thats is so cool! I will keep eye on this one. Will you also have animatronic head - moving eyes or beak? Because the head looks solid now

 

[Krats]

Will you also have animatronic head - moving eyes or beak?

My model only has head movement. I started to put it together a couple of years back when shoulder puppets were a big thing and was planning on using a simple wire mechanism to control it. Unfortunately I couldn't get this working in my tests so I ended up going with servos. I think Mr Chicken's model is a little more advanced.

 

[ChickenHaunt]

I'm going to start making my way through the blog reuploading pictures soon, but some from that build are on my instagram from 2015-2016, if it helps: https://www.instagram.com/jasperjandersonfx/.

 

[Tomperys]

I'm going to start making my way through the blog reuploading pictures soon, but some from that build are on my instagram from 2015-2016, if it helps: https://www.instagram.com/jasperjandersonfx/.

Thanks, I looked on some pictures and I saw this - the acrylic form for the body. I saw similar trasparent forms also in youtube from some another builders. Can I ask how you made this acrylic torso?

 

[ChickenHaunt]

That's vacuum formed PETG plastic off of my sculpture of the bird sans feathers. No real reason it has to be clear other than it looks kind of cool.

If it's of interest... I do intend to offer DIY kits based on that build in the not too distant future.

 

[Tomperys]

That's vacuum formed PETG plastic off of my sculpture of the bird sans feathers. No real reason it has to be clear other than it looks kind of cool.

If it's of interest... I do intend to offer DIY kits based on that build in the not too distant future.

Great news, and can I ask where you get the feathers for whole bird? I guess the feathers for the head have to be small and very soft. I found some fake crow with feathers on ebay but Iam not sure the feathers will be usable if they are already attached

 

[ChickenHaunt]

The body is actually styled fur fabric to allow for the movement. The wings and tail use a variety of feathers I got on ebay.