Simple Animatronics (robotic hand)

I made my first animatronic hand when I was about 10 years old using stuff I found around the house. Now I want to share with you how to easily make your own at home!

 This hand is made from readily available materials and is perfect for your Halloween haunted house, scary pranks, as a movie prop or just good old fashion fun. It also serves as a good starting point for further work that might include the use of servos, remote controlling and more advanced animatronics. There's a few videos at the end of this instructable that shows the building process and some of the movement of the hand. Here's one;

Step 1 Parts and tools you need

Tubing
String
Tape
Sharp knife
Hot glue-gun
Marker/ pen
CD-cover
Plastic or wooden clothes hanger

The two latter can be replaced by other materials as you will find out later.

Comments

[TimmyMiller]

how would you put a glove on it? p.s. can you turn a dial with this? i want to build a robot that will be able to turn a thermostat dial. it's for a friend. please respond with a private message, thanks.

[Stefhan Albayaty]

If you had 5 Servos you could, that would be around $75 if you got them from radio-shack or you could find some on eBay. And for a robot you wish to function as a robot i would suggest using a stronger material for the hand such as hinged metal or a hard plastic/

[pyromanic]

cool

[admerritt4life]

where did you buy the tubing???? ps can i use this at an invention convention 4 my school???

[oneaze]

wire conduit, auto parts or hardware store.. or if you goto a junkyard there is tons under hood of almost any car from 82 present day.. newer cars, much more, and will have from 1/8"-1.5" pieces.. and typical junkyards just give it away..

[freeza36]

The tubing i bought has a cut going down the entire length. Is there a simple fix?

[Gunnar120]

hmm, seeming as it is already invented... I would think not. it is probably already copyrighted by somebody and you just might get sued

[freeza36]

Ok the plastic piping that i bought has a slit running down the whole length of the tube, so wires can be inserted. It is like you just cut a straight line down the entire side. Would this work, and if not, could i tape it together?

[vadivelp]

so nice

[Aethereal]

Dx I've been to several large hardware stores and can't find (even after asking) any of the tubing. Any help?

Thanks :)

[Themajor13]

Try an automotive store. I work for Napa and we have a bunch of that stuff for wiring cars. Its called wire loom. Make sure you dont get the split loom because it has a slit down the center.

[jackjackattack]

hi

[jackjackattack99]

Hi

[djudkins]

Hi

[jmcconnell5]

Hi

[bstott]

Ha, Ha, Ha. You are just too smart. I'm loving this! This is really like a - Duh - moment.

So many of the simple things around us can be used for such vastly different, imaginative, creative and purposeful uses. Thanks for the creative eye opening. This is cool!

[djudkins]

dude thats awesome, gonna make my own tommorow

[11rex11]

Ready For This?! I Made Mine Out Of Steel Tubing But With Some Hefty Springs And 100 Pound Wire Cable I Can Literally Crush Full Cans With It.

Oh Iv Already Started On Another This Time Way Stronger And Powered By A Hydraulic Cylinder Placed In The Upper Arm Part Of It. If You Were To Put It On, The Part That Pushes (or In My Case Pulls) Is Facing The Body So That It Pulls The Wires Iv Still Got To Work Out How To Make It Compact. (Do They Sell Powerful Mini Hydraulic Pumps?)

Ideas, Ideas Ideas, Maybe I Should Make Another With Some High End Servo Motors With Censors So If I Move My Arm It Moves The Arm. (Guess That Would Get Expensive Considering Id Have To Buy 7 Servos And Censors Just For The Fingers/Wrist)

[chosenangelx]

Iron Man much?
-R

[Traw]

Um, I'm sorry, but I just noticed... why are all your words capitalized?..... and that's awesome! Could you post some pictures or something so we could see it?

[11rex11]

Its funny you ask because i literally went like a week with this stupid thing on my computer that my friends put on they apparently thought it would be funny if they installed something that capitalized everything after the space bar was pressed i went a whole week Going Like This. It drove me nuts and i had to write an 3 page essay using the shift whenever i didnt want a capital letter i ended up just using capslock

[Traw]

Haha! Well, that's pretty funny, and that actually really sucks now that I think about it, haha. So, are you going to post some pictures of your hand?

[J-Ri]

You can't tell us that and not at least give a picture of it! A video crushing a can would be even better! Awesome job, I would love to see it!

[redy2rumble]

how do you split the string into 5 pieces?

[Flonine]

um with a knife

[tinker234]

hey guys i just wanted to say thank you to taan tard sorry for my spelling but this is great if you could controll the movment then you could make a humaniod robot hand

[beetlewing]

I'm so tempted to make a giant version of this with that 4-6" black ribbed pipe that's made for extending a gutter...

great build btw.

[dragonsniper]

please post if u do

[Aethereal]

this is brilliant:)
where would you suggest getting the tubing from? are there any do's and don't with the material?
suggestions would be great
thanks a lot

[haakon.k]

Wow, love the quality of the motion versus the simplicity of the build! The next step might be to make the thumb pivot ninety degrees so it can oppose the fingers or lay alongside them. Hmmmm..... now I'm complicating your build!
Nicely done!

[jabujavi]

I wish see it wearing latex gloves...
Sorry my English.

[aaaroniscool]

awsome ,you should make a modified version.

[Niek67]

Dude this is really awersome, I'm just 15 years old, do you think i can build it ? I saw something like this at Mythbusters, Adam also build one. I hope I will make it. Thanks

[Plinko1]

I'm seven and i made it.

[aaaroniscool]

really, I'm ten but i said i was 13:)

[darkria 45]

dont worry, im 13 and i stick weld all the time. i think you can make a hand

[daltonjcw]

Adams was copper and brass and awesome. I will not disclose my age, but I'm younger than you and plan on making it. Have fun! Make stuff!

[metal slug 2]

The mythbusters mechanical hand was tank. It used a motorcycle chain for finger sections and linkages =) and yes, 15 years is plenty to be able to build something like this.

[aaaroniscool]

where do you get the tubing stuff

[aaaroniscool]

how long would it take to make?????