Animatronic Puppet Help

[thedovid]

Intro: (if my life stroy is boring skip down to the next paragraph)

i am making an animatronic puppet for use in educational presentations. I currently make a series of Jewish puppet videos (chabad.org/iks) and often get requests from rabbis and teachers all over the world asking me to do puppet shows. Sice i can't really justify flying all over the world to do puppet shows (especially since i hate performing puppets live), i've been thinking for a long time about presentations using a electronically controlled puppet, that i could control with a preprogrammed routine, or even remotely from anywhere in the world. Since the presentation would be dealt with locally by some rabbi or teacher, i need to make setup and control of the puppet as simple as possible. I therefore want the puppet to be completely controlled by a standard audio input, that would contain voice audio and a series of tones to control different parts of the puppet.



I want to start with an audio track that will contain voice audio and 4 different sets of tones, each set having a specific frequency. I want to use pass filters to separate the voice audio and the 4 different frequencies of tones into 5 audio outputs. The voice audio will be played over speakers and each set of tones will be plugged into an audio volume activated servo board (to control moth, eyes, etc. of the puppet independantly).

The problem is, I don't know any electronics stuff (seriously, i don't even know that the "L" in solder is silent), so i need someone to get/build the filters, hook them up (with whatever power supply if needed) so that all i have to do is plug the audio input into it, and the 5 audio outputs into the servo boards.

So i guess what i'm asking is:

A. Does anyone know somebody who can do this for me?

B. Am i doing this in a ridiculous way? Do you have a better suggestion?

Cool cool.

I hope y'all are nice and don't make fun of me too much.

-Dovid

 

[(*steve*)]

(seriously, i don't even know that the "L" in solder is silent)

Neither did I. Nor, I suspect, do 99.995% of other people living outside the US

Pronouncing it without the L changes the apparent meaning of the word in this part of the world to something that is a homophone of suggesting unconventional sex with a female. I think I'll stick with the L thanks

But back to your problem...

(chabad.org/iks)

Hahaha, I have to help you. My father-in-law is probably a very frequent visitor to that site

and often get requests from rabbis and teachers all over the world asking me to do puppet shows. Sice i can't really justify flying all over the world to do puppet shows (especially since i hate performing puppets live), i've been thinking for a long time about presentations using a electronically controlled puppet, that i could control with a preprogrammed routine, or even remotely from anywhere in the world.

Interesting. And possibly expensive. But maybe less expensive than lots of airfares.

Since the presentation would be dealt with locally by some rabbi or teacher, i need to make setup and control of the puppet as simple as possible. I therefore want the puppet to be completely controlled by a standard audio input, that would contain voice audio and a series of tones to control different parts of the puppet.

The traditional way of doing this is to use a multi-track recorder and dedicate one of the tracks to control.

The simplest approach is to use stereo with (say) the left track used for control signals and the right used for audio.

I want to start with an audio track that will contain voice audio and 4 different sets of tones, each set having a specific frequency. I want to use pass filters to separate the voice audio and the 4 different frequencies of tones into 5 audio outputs. The voice audio will be played over speakers and each set of tones will be plugged into an audio volume activated servo board (to control moth, eyes, etc. of the puppet independantly).

Most of this already exists. DTMF uses combinations of 4 tones that decode to 16 signals. It's designed to be carried on low bandwidth audio which is fine for either cassette tape, mp3 or streaming audio over the internet.

The tricky bit is to decide what combination of tones translated to what movement, and to ensure each signal lasts long enough to be recognised. Another issue will be how many signals can be sent in any given time period.

The problem is, I don't know any electronics stuff

You probably need help then

So i guess what i'm asking is:

A. Does anyone know somebody who can do this for me?

Where are you? (country, at least). You probably need to firm up your requirements a little more before you go in search of someone though.

B. Am i doing this in a ridiculous way? Do you have a better suggestion?

Probably not ridiculous, but it would be nice to know why you don't want to use a slightly higher tech approach to storing the control signals.

I hope y'all are nice and don't make fun of me too much.

Ah, you're in Texas!

 

[(*steve*)]

How many things do you want to move?

How many positions do you need for each of them?

How many puppets?

Essentially you need to multiply these together to get an estimate of the number of signals you'll require.

So let's say that for eyes, you want to be able to:

Look left
look right
look straight ahead

For eyelids

open
closed
wink (one closed)

eyebrows

up
down

mouth

Open
closed

etc...

Those are fairly simple with 2 or three actions per item. head movements, arm movements, etc may be more complex.

How will you actuate these movements? Some smaller items cam probably be done with actuators inside the puppet, but how do you move arms etc? Do you use strings?

Will the puppets be fairly stationary? If not how do you move the entire puppet and its associated control?

Lots of things to think about. And much of the work is mechanical.