stepper motor (eyes) servo (mouth) solenoid (nose)
Control Method
Power Source
Tethered
via tether
CPU Type
Operating System
Commodore 64
N/A
Programming Lanuage
Weight
N/A
N/A
Time to build
Cost to build
about a month
$200
URL for more information
N/A
Comments
This robot is an animatronic head comprised of latex skin. The eyes move in unison panning left and right upon command. The jaw moves in synch with the user's programming. The eyes are controlled with a stepper motor, and the mouth is controlled by a servo. Other facial features include squinting and nose wiggling by using solenoids. The
interface is implanted inside the head. The entire head is controlled by using a computer (either Commodore 64 or 386 PC) and a program which allows the user to control the head by certain keys on the keyboard. The movements are recorded within the computer and the steps can be edited , saved and printed out.
For example, I programmed the robot to recite a five minute excerpt from Seinfeld, played it back through VHS and started the head sequence. Voila ! Jerry Seinfeld in my workshop !! The entire project took about a month to create. The program took about 2 weeks to design and code, then the testing phase took about 1 week. Cost on the project was approx $200.00 not including the computer. The interface was designed by using 8 5-v relays, diodes and transistors which connect to the parallel port on the computer.
