I want to make a small animatronic alien lizard-thing (about the size of a iguana, maybe an inch or two smaller than that, though) to go on my shoulder as part of a costume for a Steampunk convention I'm going to next year. I've got a fair understanding of what I'll need and I've also got plenty of books to give me information on stuff I'm not entirely sure about.
The basic movements I want from the puppet will be up, down, left and right head movement, clockwise and counter-clockwise head tilt (to about 30˚ both ways) and an opening and closing mouth as well as a gently swaying tail and maybe a retractable, brightly colored frill on its neck and back to puff out when it "feels" threatened.
I'd like for it to go through a cycle of animations depending on what "mood" it's in, when it's idle, it'll basically just look around, maybe yawn a little and make frog-like "purring" noises. When someone touches it (or, more accurately, when someone brushes the sensors under its "skin") it'll take up a threatened stance where its frills will raise up and its mouth will open with a short hissing noise.
What I've come here to ask for is a wider list of places I can purchase the components from.
Firstly, what kind of chip should I use to get this kind of animation from the puppet? I've heard good things about the Arduino (click here for a link to their site, if you haven't heard of them [http://www.arduino.cc/]) and I quite like the fact that it's pretty easy to program, but I'd like to know if there are alternatives out there that might be better suited to this project.
Also, does anyone know of a decent supplier of actuators and servos? Anyone who takes small orders will be great as I've only found sites that supply stuff for factory use, which is no good for a one off hobbyist project.
Also, I'd very much appreciate it of someone could provide me with a link to somewhere that supplies relatively small actuators (something like a 40mm stroke, 5mm bore) that have a decent amount of pull to them and can be powered electronically. I'm not particularly fussed about the size since I should be able to work around it if it's a little bigger than I need it to be, but the smaller the better for the sake of saving weight and space. I'm not particularly au fait with actuators per se, so I'd also like to know if there's any way to tell the difference between a good quality actuator and a poor quality one.
I'm mostly looking for something that can pull on the weight of the framework and the weight and resistance of the "skin" without over straining itself and inevitably failing, the last thing I want is for the puppet to fail right in the middle of the convention.
I suppose everything I said above would go for the servos, too (apart form the comment about the stroke/bore, obviously).
Basically where's the best place to get them, are there any decent small ones, how do I tell a good quality one from a bad quality one and so-on, but also, for the servos I'm looking for would mainly be one that simply swivels 180˚ in both directions that I can limit to about 30˚, I don't need one that does a full 360˚ spin, otherwise my poor puppets head could be twisted right off!
I'm grateful for any help provided.
Thank you.
The basic movements I want from the puppet will be up, down, left and right head movement, clockwise and counter-clockwise head tilt (to about 30˚ both ways) and an opening and closing mouth as well as a gently swaying tail and maybe a retractable, brightly colored frill on its neck and back to puff out when it "feels" threatened.
I'd like for it to go through a cycle of animations depending on what "mood" it's in, when it's idle, it'll basically just look around, maybe yawn a little and make frog-like "purring" noises. When someone touches it (or, more accurately, when someone brushes the sensors under its "skin") it'll take up a threatened stance where its frills will raise up and its mouth will open with a short hissing noise.
What I've come here to ask for is a wider list of places I can purchase the components from.
Firstly, what kind of chip should I use to get this kind of animation from the puppet? I've heard good things about the Arduino (click here for a link to their site, if you haven't heard of them [http://www.arduino.cc/]) and I quite like the fact that it's pretty easy to program, but I'd like to know if there are alternatives out there that might be better suited to this project.
Also, does anyone know of a decent supplier of actuators and servos? Anyone who takes small orders will be great as I've only found sites that supply stuff for factory use, which is no good for a one off hobbyist project.
Also, I'd very much appreciate it of someone could provide me with a link to somewhere that supplies relatively small actuators (something like a 40mm stroke, 5mm bore) that have a decent amount of pull to them and can be powered electronically. I'm not particularly fussed about the size since I should be able to work around it if it's a little bigger than I need it to be, but the smaller the better for the sake of saving weight and space. I'm not particularly au fait with actuators per se, so I'd also like to know if there's any way to tell the difference between a good quality actuator and a poor quality one.
I'm mostly looking for something that can pull on the weight of the framework and the weight and resistance of the "skin" without over straining itself and inevitably failing, the last thing I want is for the puppet to fail right in the middle of the convention.
I suppose everything I said above would go for the servos, too (apart form the comment about the stroke/bore, obviously).
Basically where's the best place to get them, are there any decent small ones, how do I tell a good quality one from a bad quality one and so-on, but also, for the servos I'm looking for would mainly be one that simply swivels 180˚ in both directions that I can limit to about 30˚, I don't need one that does a full 360˚ spin, otherwise my poor puppets head could be twisted right off!
I'm grateful for any help provided.
Thank you.