Here are the answers to the questions that will help create the bill of materials. For more information on the planning of the final project, see my final project page.
What will the project do?
The project is an animatronic in the shape of a toucan. The aim is to achieve natural movements of the head, beak and hips of the bird. The movements will be adjustable and controllable by the user- specifically their speed and angle. The control interface will consist of a web interface that communicates with the microcontroller through a wireless network.
Who has done what beforehand?
My main inspiration for this project is the Animatronic raven DIY kit by Jasper J. Anderson. In addition, I will also employ principles from other DIY animatronic projects as well, such as this eye animatronic and this one
What will you design?
My contribution to the pre-existing raven project by Jasper Anderson will be to make the movements of the animatronic more natural, variable, and controllable by the user. I want my animatronic to be able to move at varying speeds, and have an interface that allows me to precisely control them. I also opted for replacing the servo motors for steppers in my design for better speed control. Taking all of these changes into account, I need to design a body to accommodate the electronics I am using, a circuit board and it’s schematics, a head - body connection with universal joint and wires that allows for free movement, and a network interface for precise control of the steppers.
What questions need to be answered?
Can two stepper motors on the same axis be used to control a universal joint precisely? Can exact movements be translated from steps to the direction of the head?
Can a network interface be made to control the movements of the toucan’s head?
Can the animatronic be durable enough to run for two weeks in an exhibition?
[Further improvements for 2024]: How can the body be re-designed to accommodate for stronger stepper motors?
[Further improvements for 2024]: How can more precise user input be achieved? How can the network interface be more intuitive?
[Further improvements for 2024]: Can electronics integartion be improved?
How will it be evaluated?
Are the head movements customizable enough? Can the speed and direction be reliably controlled?
Is the network interface responsive enough? Does the toucan respond immediately to the commands sent?
How is the system integration? Are electronics organized in the box? How is the cable management? How are the electrical safety measures?
Can the toucan run uninterrupted for a long time?
Bill of Materials
Electronic Components
(Digikey pages of components are included in the links down below)
(The digikey page and unit price for this item is taken from a similar product, since I could not find the digikey page of the actual component I used.)
(The digikey page and unit price for this item is taken from a similar product, since I could not find the digikey page of the actual component I used.)