Talking Animatronic Robot Head

Step 7 Having fun.....!

I had a lot of fun designing and building this animatronic talking head.  In addition to taking him to parties, he's also been to a family reunion (where he talked about his own ancestors -- they were powered by steam, you know), he has spoken to 1,000 sales managers at a sales convention, and he has been at a number of schools, where he usually talks to them about technology.

I guess my favorite place to take him is to elementary schools.  Kids literally sit on the edge of their seat while Robot Head 2 performs.  With kids, he always starts out by telling them a little about himself (usually a funny story), then he talks to them about technology (generally via a story about some gadget he owned or used, or knew of personally), and then finishes by encouraging the kids to study hard in school.  When he is finished, he tells them goodbye, yawns, then closes his eyes and begins snoring loudly!

I hope you've enjoyed this project.  It may seem a bit overwhelming on the surface, but keep in mind all that makes up any animatronic  is sound and movement.  In terms of building one, it is good to start simple (my very first one had one servo), then build up to more complicated undertakings. 

Comments

[djsfantasi]

HI, how do you get your demonstration dates? Do you advertise or is it through word of mouth? I want to take my animatronic, Peter Penguin, on tour.

[knife141]

I do a lot of volunteer gigs with Robot Head 2 -- mostly schools, church activities, etc. Doing some freebies tends to get the word out. Elementary schools are a great place to start. Find a teacher and let them know you're available (free of charge) to give their students a demo when they start a unit on inventors, or science, simple machines, etc. If you're interested in eventually getting more exposure, leave each student a photo of your device with some contact info.

[djsfantasi]

Great idea! Thanks. I used to do a lot at the elementary schools when my kids were young and my sister is now a teacher there. I think that will be a good place to start.