Project 1: Animatronics

This 1st of 3 projects for Unit 7 started with a viewing of Jan Svankmajer's 'Alice' [1988]. As a craftsman of puppetry and stop-frame model animation, this worked to be a solid foundation when it came to our briefing; breathe life into an inanimate object using animatronics, electro-puppetry or automata. While watching 'Alice', I found that all of the characters who predominantly use jaw movements to communicate the story, achieved the highest level of discomfort in the viewer.

Above: Frames from 'Alice' that influenced our concept.

After pairing up with Gray, we started drawing up different concept designs with the 5th and final being a large head swallowing a smaller being using large, exagerrated mouth movements. We scanned local charity shops and settled for an Action Man figure and a large Cookie Monster toy with a gaping mouth. From here we had to plan the movement of the mechanism and which parts were required.

Above: Designing the concept. [By Gray]

Above: Preparing the parts.

UPDATE: We've had to change our design as the mechanisms available to us are not powerful enough to power the concept above. Initially we were just going to reduce the movement to the jaw moving up and down while the legs remain static, however the structure was still too large. As an alternative, we've decided to use the head of the action man; scaling down the size of the animatronic for compatibility. Below are the technical drawings displaying action man's head resting in a glass dome [inspired by 'Futurama's use of heads in jars]. The focus on mouth movement remains the same, just on a much smaller scale.

Updated Design - Technical Drawings

Above: Updated technical drawings. [By Emine]

From here we had a set plan: construct the circuit, purchase all extra parts needed for the mechanism, dissect the head, experiment until accomplished and, finally, assemble with the box and glass dome. This whole process has been documented below with short comments along the way.

Above: Creating the circuit.

Above: Creating the mechanism.

Note: Through experimentation in the metal workshop we went through numerous concepts for the mechanism - by the end the idea had gone in quite a different direction from the original concept drawings. The outcome was a much simpler and sturdy mechanism.

Above: Assembling all components.

The process of getting the mechanism into the box we had made was extremely tricky and required a lot of trial and error - especially for getting the head and motor to work together. To neaten the hand-sawn mdf and complete the design, I worked with milliput to give an industrial metal-box aesthetic.

From here, it was a simple stage of glueing the dome on top and a faux-metal paint job. The final outcome can be seen below along with a video recording.