Puppet

[wotan]

Thanks Richard not the same as your great dio's

A new puppet version. This time entirely Arduino controlled. Early days bit excellent use for a drained single malt. An owl I hope eventually.



He will have 5 servos controlling him via 5 potentiometers and an Arduino Uno.

John

[rtfoe]

This will be interesting to see how the components are worked in. :thumb2:

Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

John,
Looking forward to following this along. You lost me at arduino.

[stillp]

a drained single malt

The way we suffer for our hobby!
Pete

[wotan]

Thanks for indulging me once again guys.

I have now got the first prototype working.



Not really as complicated as it might look. Although a second single malt suffered a certain amount of an assault to get this far.

Now that the head works I will move on to building the body with the turning mechanism to make the head turn. Looks like another wee dram might be in order.

John

[minitnkr]

Reminds me of electronics lab many moons (decades) ago. Never enough test probes. PaulE

[Jim R]

Hi John
Totally fascinating. Lots of skills being used.
Jim

[wotan]

Thanks again guys. Have to take care that this doesn't turn into a real wiring rat's nest.

I have nearly finished his head. Which will turn from side to side when finished.



The mechanism for turning proved to be a bit of a challenge. I finally decided to go with a stepper motor instead of a servo. This I have programmed to rotate from side to side using a potentiometer. I am particularly pleased with the platform on which the head turns that I ended up building from some hardware odds and ends and using small LEGO pulleys to work as guiding wheels. It all appears to work so some programming to do to integrate the turning with the servos controlling the face. The final animation will be to add some wings that will flap up and down a little bit.



John

[scottie3158]

John,
Lovely work mate.

[Tim Marlow]

This one is going to need a video, not just pictures! Mind you, if it has a voice like Orville I’m going to have nightmares!

[wotan]

Still can't post videos from FB GRRRR!

John

[Jim R]

Hi John
Amazing stuff.

I finally decided to go with a stepper motor instead of a servo. This I have programmed to rotate from side to side using a potentiometer. I am particularly pleased with the platform on which the head turns that I ended up building from some hardware odds and ends and using small LEGO pulleys to work as guiding wheels. It all appears to work so some programming to do to integrate the turning with the servos controlling the face.

I don't understand most of that but I'm very impressed :tongue-out3:

[Mickc1440]

First time I've seen this John but absolutely brilliant work,

[wotan]

Guys You are all too kind. As I mentioned I have a fairly eclectic approach to building things, so who knows what could be next.

For those of you who have never played with electronics, the simplest approach is just LED lighting. Ask Mr Race how much fun you can have with just that. The next step is maybe some servos, that are the things that aircraft modellers use to move control surfaces up and down, but oscillating movement can be used for all sorts of mechanical animation. Then Stepper motors are nothing more than slow turning electric motors which can be precisely moved, either backwards or forwards to provide rotational effects. An Arduino is nothing more than a little micro controller that can provide control of LEDs servos and Stepper motors so that animations can be controlled by preset patterns or manipulated by knobs (potentiometers) joysticks (more potentiometers) or even infra red, blue tooth or even wifi devices.

A whole world of potential fun once the simple learning curve has been negotiated.

Thanks again
John

[wotan]

I wish I could post a video now that Olive the owl is finished. Anyway this is what she looks like.



And with all the wiring.



And this is my control box that I made up. I must say I have an enormous respect for all those Chinese workers that you see on news reels, spending days soldering small parts together.



Thanks for looking in

John