Animatronics with Arduino!

It's never too early to start crafting your Halloween costume - and adding some animatronics is always a good plan.

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This past Halloween, we talked about a few projects (like this one and this one) that we thought were cool. Of course, if you are anything like us (and I'm guessing you are), building a cool Halloween costume can be a year-long endeavor. So here's something you might want to get started on - Arduino Animatronics.

Ever dream of having a Predator cannon as part of your costume? Check that out! This tutorial from Instructables shows you how to implement a bit of awesome animatronics into your costume.

They also have an awesome video of the Iron Man repulsor (I admit, I'm a big Iron Man fan). If you haven't already poked around the Instructables website, you should definitely do so - they have a million tutorials about pretty much everything you might want to build. Try a search for "Arduino" and get at it!


Comments 14 comments

  • a few years back, I dressed up as Tony Stark. Great costume, all you really need is a blue-white LED ring for the chest. (Sweet goatee helps though.)

    • Anthony Edward Stark, a role model for us electrical engineers ;)

      • N.Poole / about 13 years ago / 1

        If I could be any superhero, it'd be Tony Stark... Not IronMan, just Tony Stark. lol

        • "Tony Stark build this in a CAVE... with a box of SCRAPS!" -Obadiah Stane holding the arc reactor.<br />
          <br />
          <br />
          Tony's my hero; Iron Man is his invention.

  • Microzoul / about 13 years ago / 1

    servos response at the first project is so bad <br />
    also refresh rate is not near to accurate <br />
    when you are using software PWM it's better to use timer interrupt to update the values of the width .

    • PeterG / about 13 years ago / 1

      Servo control code comes with the Arduino library. That's what most people use. If you have something better, submit it to the Arduino team.<br />
      <br />
      Also, it may not be the servo control that is the problem. Accelerometers are only relative devices, and it is difficult precisely determine absolute position from them. Specifically, absolute rotation about the Y-axis is difficult to discern, because the gravity vector is the same regardless of heading (unlike for pitch or tilt.) You could use a compass chip for Y-axis rotation, but they are notoriously slow to update and imprecise. They are also pretty expensive. <br />
      <br />
      I think the articulation is good given the tools available. You do realize that in the movie the gun was directed by a guy off-screen with an RC transmitter, right? The movie prop version wasn't actually 'head-locked' like this is. Overall, I think his achievement is impressive.

  • Honus / about 13 years ago / 1

    Glad you guys like it. I should have the Pred gauntlet blade mechanism done soon and then it's on to some animatronic mask work.

  • EvilTwin / about 13 years ago / 1

    Wow, bravo, kudos, encore.

  • Good one! Reminds me of a line in ST - First Contact: "Borg? Sounds Swedish."

  • A Borg costume would have made a great addition.

    • Erik-Sparkfun / about 13 years ago / 1

      Bj�rn Borg?

      • Erik-Sparkfun / about 13 years ago / 2

        Aaaand found one: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/57760093_a6eb06746a.jpg?v=0<br />
        <br />
        Note the Arduino-powered tennis racket.

  • N.Poole / about 13 years ago / 1

    That's a MEAN shoulder cannon, totally gnarly and I dig it.<br />
    <br />
    I'd put a 500mW Laser in mine.

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