WowWee's Elvis Alive to The Elivinator Project

Hello everyone, I would like to introduce you to a project that I have started since the first of the year. It all happened when I saw the WowWee's Elvis Alive bust. I have been working on an animated head on and off until I seen this. This was just what I was looking for, a head that moves, turns, eyes that move and a mouth that moves. The Elvis had all of it, so I started to think what am I going to do with it? I started talking about the head on www.RoboCommunity.com and got a lot of ideas but the one that I liked the most was to turn the Elvis into the Terminator. So the name The Elvinator was born. This project is a very hard robot to build and to make the necessary mods including making your own main brain board, constructing the Terminator eye with a glowing red LED, building the jaw piston, re-skinning the face to look like it has been burnt off and of course programming it to move, recognize voice and learn as it interacts with people. As you can see where I am in the project just look at my Avatar photo, yes that is the Elvinator. So I would like to show you what's inside him and how to modify the Elvis and turn him into the Elvinator. This project is not finished yet but I will be adding more steps along the way. I not sure how many steps but I know there are a bunch. I am using a Basic Stamp 2 from Parallax right now for testing purposes then I'll make a board that is controlled by a PC once I get to that point.
This is the first step in transforming Elvis to "The Elvinator," an ongoing project. This first article is about opening your Elvis to reveal some of its electronics. The next article will be about removing the skin and so forth.
So, are you ready to get started?

Step 1: Removing the bottom base

Support the Elvis upside down, either in an empty trash can or in your lap. If batteries are installed, you will need to remove them before beginning this step, since you could slip and make a short circuit in it. If you look at the base, you will see that there are a lot of screws to remove. Make sure not to forget about the ones in the middle of the white standoffs. See the picture below.

Comments

[goldenshuttle]

please can you provide the schematic of the IR tracking sensors and how they make his head follow movement ?

[tanuwat]

Can some one fix my Elvis??

[tanuwat]

Hello your blog is really fascinating. I really wish someone can fix my Elvis he just stop working and I don't know why. I wonder If you could fix him for me.

[telarium]

Thanks to this guide, I'm celebrating Presidents Day in the US with the Elvis Alive and Chimpanzee from Wowee. Powered by Arduino!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnObaoilr10

[telarium]

Got mine up and running!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXUj3FaVH8A&feature=youtu.be

[goldenshuttle]

please i bought this used ELVIS from EBAY; when powers on it only repositions its neck and then nothing happens. please any advise ? I tried fresh batteries and better adaptor; I also pulled all connectors between allboards and placed them back in place one by one. so far no success...Please advise me...many thanks....

[RetroPlayer]

It is most likely a malfunctioning limit switch. There is a square plate at the base of the neck on in the inside of the torso. It slides around with the L/R, U/D of the neck. At the extremes, it closes a limit switch. One of these is not working working properly and telling the firmware that the head is in an impossible position.

When you first power up the bust, it moves the neck through the fulle range of motion to calibrate it and then set it in a nuetral position (since removing power can be done at any time and the head will just stop wherever it was.) If it is unable to sense where the neck limits are, it just hangs up.

You will need to test the switches and either replace or clean them. They may all appear to work fine, but check them with an ohm meter while holding them closed. If the value is bouncing around all over the place, then the switch is faulty (remember, this is just a switch so it should only be either 0 ohms or infinite.)

This is a common problem for the Elvis bust.

[goldenshuttle]

Checked the neck limit switches, yes one of them was leaking. But the surgery did not end there. As advised by RetroPlayer before; I removed one of the two neck motors, found that its plastic base melted in a way it is now sitting tilted.(see the pictures). This also caused one gear to break, and the slotted wheel that feeds the position optosensor is no longer sitting in place between sensor slot. later I took off the motor found that it still works, but has major damage inside due to overheating; parts of the amature shattered inside the motor.
I will try to replace the motor with something similar, and get a gear from a toy and put things together hope it works. If someone have this part for sale I will buy it....
Any idea's why the motor melted its enclosure? please educate us ....

[goldenshuttle]

BTW retroplayer; do u do WowWee regretted selling ELVIS at only 80$ ? I mean when u open it; and after reading ur hacks inside it; it is some peice of work. all that animatronics for just 80$..hwat di u think ?

[goldenshuttle]

Thanks Retro Player. I must admit that you know ELVIS bust like ur own son. I m gonna check the limit switch and report bck. God bless u man

[thomasfromla]

It sounds like you have a burned out sensor board or possibly CPU board. Go to Robots and Androids on ebay. They sell all the boards. Or you can see if their web site "http://www.robots-and-androids.com" has instructions.

[flesh138]

Did you have any issues with the paint not sticking too well since the skin is silicone? Thanks!

[telarium]

You mention the existing Elvis Alive has a complex power board. Do you know if it uses the full 9v to control all the DC motors, or is it 5v? Specifically, the motors to tilt the head left/right and up/down.

[robotmaker]

NICE INSTRUCTABLE,i am looking at a different controller that works using SD84 IT HAS 84 inputs and using very cheap servo's for the servo board
servo board can get for $5 on ebay new from china,and just remove the pot and motor ,and add motor and feedback pot from ELVIS head,very easy and you free up a lot of inputs for other stuff,using microcontroller board you will many many I/O on SD84 ONLY NEED IS 7 rc inputs
ever thought of using it,also servo boards can be used with any microcontroller
SD84 has 4 on board for other servo's hands,pan and tilt and more

[GWJax]

Never hear of the SD84 but I'll look into it. But one thing the Elvis does not have any servos it has only DC motors with Variable Resistors as a positional sensor. If you want you could remove all the motors and replace them with small servos but that is a lot of work to do and there for your really not hacking the Elvis but only using the plastic mechanics for your hack.

Jax

[robotmaker]

not a great idea ,mostly because of cost
what i did is buy very cheap futuba servos from china remove the pcb and pot and motor and make my own servo
servo is a controller with feedback and h-bridge plus motor and feedback pot
its very simple ,cheap and works perfect $5 total per motor and only 1 wire per servo on SD84
THEN YOU HAVE OVER 70 PORTS LEFT /IO ,SERVO AND A-D

[robotmaker]

another thing about using a board from a cheap servo is that the h-bridge can be parallel to have higher current or easy replace the chip with higher current h-bridge,i bought 50 to have on hand to make my own servo's from motors and feedback pot, futaba s3003 is perfect ,easy to remove parts cheap from china $5 or less and great info in seattle robotics club on the circuit

[telarium]

This is inspiring stuff. I'm a bit new to all of this, so forgive me if I have some newbie questions. The main thing I don't get is the ELV-09 board. I'm not clear what this board actually does and why you felt the need to replace it. Can you elaborate?

I'm interested in controlling this with an Arduino board. Have you ever looked into that? I know it can read VR data, but I'm not sure about how the neck motors will integrate...

[GWJax]

What the ELV-09 board does is it controls a lot of the facial movements by turning the motors on and off and reading the VR positions in a digital form with a ADC chip (Analog to Digital Converter)

The reason I built the new ELV-09 board is because I wanted an analog signal which I can control where the motors are better than a digital signature of it and with the ADC chip along with shift registers it does not give me that kind of info I need from these VR's. I hope you understand the reason. But if you want to control the facial movements as they are you can tap into the ELV-01 Main boards shift registers for that. Also look at the video about the eye movements, this is where I took out of circuit the ELV-09 board all together and showed how the new ELV-09 board would work mounted on the breadboard for moving the eyes only. Yet I did not slow down the eyes on this video because I wanted to see if I could read the VR going with the motor at full speed and no problems there and it worked great.

Yes I have looked in to the Arduino board in which I have one but really the PIC 16F884 or 887 would do a better job than the BS2 series because of the amount of I/O's it has and I think it like 33 or 35 I/O's I'd have to look that one up again.

For the neck motors you would only need a one bit I/O line to read it's location and for it's speed once you setup the calibrations with those 4 switches 2 for each motor. This one is very simple to write into your program for what ever MCU you use.

I hope I explained the questions you asked and if you have any others just ask again.

Jax

[telarium]

Thanks for the response! I was considering the Arduino Mega board, which has 54 digital outs and 16 analog inputs. Would that be enough? Or do I need an input for each neck switch?

Like I said, I'm new at this. But I'm assuming that by utilizing the boards that are already inside Elvis, the digital outs on my Arduino would work to control direction of each motor and the VR can be fed through the analog input to determine positional data. Also, I assume using the existing boards means I don't have to deal with the volts as much.

Do I sound like I'm on the right track here?

[GWJax]

Yep your on the right track... for the neck switches those are digital I/O's and so are the neck motor encoders. You have plenty of I/O ports. Now on the ELV-09 board you need to cut the traces going to the ADC chip lines for the VR's and you'll need to solder in some extra jumper wires on the board. All VR's have a cap on them so you don't have to worry about adding those. If you need help with this I can scan in the bottom of the board and show you where to cut and then what lines to use. It can be a little tricky but if you can do it great. It would take me awhile to do this because of all my other projects going on right now have deadlines that I have to meet.

Jax

[telarium]

Yikes, that does sound tricky. Maybe I would be better at building a new ELV-09 board as you did. But yeah, if you could provide that scan, I would be very thankful.

[GWJax]

No problem just give me some tie to get it done.

Jax

[telarium]

Have you had a chance to scan the bottom board to show me where I need to cut these wires?

[GWJax]

I have updated the ELV-09 boards pin out in-case you still need that..
I also looked at what you could do about cutting the traces and really the best thing to do is to remove the SNAD01 chip and connect your wire harness to the VR signal lines to your MCU.
Jax

[GWJax]

No Sorry, I have bad news.. My house had a bad fire in the attic on 29 April at 12:30 in the afternoon and destroyed all my robots including the Elvinator and it's boards. I have no unpublished photos now and all my data is lost. The only way I can help you now is if you scan in the bottom of the board for me and then I can edit it for you to show you where to cut them.

If I do get another Elvis I will rebuild the Elvinator again with different mods but we'll have to see about that.

Jax

[telarium]

Damn, sorry to hear that man. Don't worry about it, I think I've pretty much figured everything out. The only thing left I have to work out is how to get my Arduino microcontroller to interface with the ELV-13 board properly.

[telarium]

Well, the more I think about it, the more I do think building a new board as you suggested might be the way to go. But that does lead to one other question. I assume this would mean I should hook this board up to the PWM outputs on the Arduino board instead of the digital outputs, right?

[applicationbistro]

Trying to figure out what the requirements are for controlling all of Elvis' components I have come up with the following I/O requirements:

16 inputs (10 from VRs, 4 from neck switches, 2 from IR boards Rx)
22 outputs (10 for each motor/direction, 2 for IR boards Tx)

Have I over looked something?

[GWJax]

Only 8 Motors have VR (Variable Resistors) the Neck motors that control tilt function with the 4 switches uses Tacit sensors (PT disk in the casing) I did not include this in any part of the article because the rest of the custom electronics were not finished. I had put this off for so long I'll need to check everything else you stated but it does sound right.
I'll post more when I have a chance very soon for you.

Jax

[applicationbistro]

I appreciate all of your help!

I am eager to bring my Elvis alive. I am attempting to translate your instructable into Arduino (that's all I have right now).

[GWJax]

Sorry I thought I posted the plug layout for the ELV-09 board. So here they are:

• M11-white connector-controls L/R head movement
• M6-blue connector-controls eye brows
• M1-Grey connector controls jaw movement
• J33- power connector
• pin1-red +
• Pin2-GND -
• J12- main controller plug
• pin1-red-neck right
• pin2-yellow-neck left
• pin3-green-jaw down
• pin4-blue-jaw up
• pin5-purple-eye brow down
• pin6-black-eye brow up

[applicationbistro]

Looks like that is the pinout for ELV-07 not ELV-09.

[GWJax]

Let me look into this for you.

[applicationbistro]

Have you listed which VRs (which color plug) go with which motor? I am trying to avoid taking the guts out of the face, and since i am working from behind i can't see where all of the plugs are going to.

[GWJax]

I forgot to hit the reply button to your question but the answer has been posted for you.

Jax

[stardogg]

GWJax,
I'm confused. Where are the 7 VR's? I am putting together a shopping list for this project, but I don't know if I need to supply my own VR's or if they are already in Elvis...

This is an awesome Instructable!

[GWJax]

The VR's are on the motors them self. They are what the motors use to determine where and how fast they move.

Let me know if I can help anymore for you.

Jax

[stardogg]

I am anxiously waiting for the face movement step...

[Mister Jellyfish]

I did it! Thanks, Jax, for the great walk through. My daughter and I kept alternating between different sized small screwdrivers that fit the different contours. You were right about the chest being hard to get off. We just kept pulling and wiping the screwdrivers gently across the glue jams and they slowly relented.

[GWJax]

Great I'm glad to hear that all went well Jellyfish. When you need to re-glue the new skin back on just use superglue to tack it back on. It will be harder to do when it comes to the eye lids to keep them in the correct position. It's all about taking your time with it.

Jax

[One.]

that was scary...

[robotmaker]

hi jwjax love your project,cant wait to take my elvis apart and add it to my AI animated robot design keep up the good work,it shame i cant get on trossen my robot will win top prize with great mods i made also my johhny five projects is getting really good too ,both with AI SOFTWARE after both done working on full detail full size johnny five

[MiriadaTheCarrot]

Slightly disturbing, this.

Something between Terminator at the very end of the first film and a Barbie doll, i think it's the pink that hints "Barbie".

[twocvbloke]

This is just sooooo creepy, not just the remodelling, but the actual device itself, but I suppose it's one step closer to actual androids, but still, creepy... :S Great job though... :D

[ghostee]

great stuff ! Now I understand.. Elvis is not dead.. he's been terminated.. Thanks for solving that mystery.

[lightspeedlh]

hello gw jax , i wrote a while ago about if you could make the kelinator head voice activated from an outside source by hooking up an external mic (like the singing santas ) i would like to be able to do this so i can hook my a.i. up through the mic connection on the elvis head . do you think you will be working on this anytime soon ? thanks

[GWJax]

yes I am working on this but waiting for a new MCU to come in. But I know you want to do very little hacking to the Elvis but I don't think you have any way around this. I'll post it as soon as I can for you when I get that part working. Jax

[lightspeedlh]

hello gwjax thanks for writing back if you can make a hook up to where elvis will lipsinc (as i said the way the 5 foot tall santas do )can you make a connection to where the pc speaker plug in wire can connect to the elvis jack plug in ( through a jack ?? ) am trying to have a simple plug in jack area . also if the elvis can truly lipsinc then a person can talk through the external plug in mic and make the elvis animate and talk . if you make elvis lipsinc can you also tie that inwith the animation elvis does ? (or maybe thats what you had planned on doing )thanks .

[GWJax]

The audio jack is very simple to do, Just drill another hole in the front or back of the base and tie the speakers to it if you want an output in which I think you do I have already done that an connected them to 2 43 foot JVC speakers and the sound is great. as of lipsinc this is very tricky as any sound will trigger the jaw. also running the animations must be on a script file for it to follow. This is why I'm ridding him of the ELV-01 board but keeping most everything else electronic wise. A PC and a few Micros can handle this problem but it will still be some time before I can produce an instructable. So make sure you subscribe to my name so you will know when it's out. I may also just add what I have done so the information is not overwhelming to read like the Elvinator Project was and still is. Please feel free to message me any time and I'll let you know how far I am on the project. Right now I'm building a new ELV-01 board from scratch to attach to the computer Jax

[GWJax]

For those that watch out for new input to this Instructable, Denerufus and I have been working behind the scenes on converting his Elvis to work without the remote. I have a great program and mod to his problem and now working on some new improvements for him. If I get the OK from him to do another Instructable on this research I'll post it to all to see and how it's done along with the programming code and the new electronics board required for this mod. Jax

[lightspeedlh]

hello i have an elvis head and want to use it with my a.i. hal project can you show and instructional on making a jack plug in where a jack from the speaker jack on a pc could be ran into and elvis jack to make elvis lipsinc and animate to the sound thats coming from the pc ? (like the animated 5 foot tall santas that lipsinc to sound from a mic . or could a hack be made and shown where the external mic hooks up on elvis could be made to make elvis lipsinc ?? hope you can help me on this thats why i got this elvis head was for the purpose of a.i animation . thanks

[GWJax]

That's what I'm working on right now with the Elvinator Project. As soon as I get it up and running I will post another instructible for everyone to enjoy. Running a lipsynic for the Elvis is very hard to do and has been taking me a long time to create but since I know someone else out here need this information I'll work harder on it for you.. Jax

[Denerufus]

My grand kids have broken the microphone. They dont care if Elvis talks, they just want to see him move & hear him sing. Is there anyway I can add a push button (or two) that starts him ( I guess he stops when the song is over). They are realy mesmerized with Elvis so I will gladly compensate you for your time and infomation. [e-mail] or 321-281-7779 Florida

[GWJax]

Denerufus, I know I can do it but give me a little while and I post it for you.. Jax

[learningmasters]

ahhh the terminators going to take over the world run lol
good job =)

[Brenton Tuchten]

do you know the closest WowWee store to pritoria???

[GWJax]

That would be http://www.wowwee.com/
You can order one from the web site and it will also tell you where you can get one from a store but they will most likely have to order it for you. This would be your best bet unless you find one on E-bay
Hope this helps.
Jax

[tbenefi33]

You done one heck of a job on that one 5 stars here. Just wondering can you take all the parts out of evis and put it in a custome made head.

[GWJax]

Thanks for your comment, and yes you can, but it will take alot of cutting and remoding the inside. In fact, thats what RetroPlayer is doing now. He's making the Hulk with the Elvis head. you can find him at www.robocommunity.com or you can pm him here. If I ever get another Elvis head I too will do that. Jax

[neardood]

HOLY SH1T THAT IS A LOT OF STEPS!!!!! Biggest instructable I have ever seen. I say, COMPRESS!. try to bring it down to about 10 steps.

[GWJax]

Thanks neardood for the comment, but this project is so complex there is no way to put it in only 10 steps. Plus I thought this Instructable site was for those who would like to try to make or learn new things, so I could have put more steps in this article but did not. I will have another instrctable on the Elvinator Project in part 2 comming soon. Thanks again for your comment. Jax

[neardood]

ok, it is understandable that the project is so ling. And as you said. Not only does it teach you how to make the Elvinator, it also teaches you new skills.

[GWJax]

Very true neardood, thanks for understanding why I did it this way. Jax

[Brenton Tuchten]

I really need to know where you got that head, its really cool, and would be fun to program

[GWJax]

It is a WowWee Alive Elvis, You can get one from the WowWee store at www.wowwee.com or on e-bay which I see them all over the place in there. you can see all of the descussion about this project at www.robocommunity.com under the thread fourms Elvis Alive. Thanks for your comments, Jax

[Brenton Tuchten]

really

[SoapyHollow]

Wow dude! That's freaking amazing! Go you!

[GWJax]

Thank you very much for your great comment. Jax

[Flumpkins]

Too much to read, but -Very well written -Looks like you added tons of effort 5/5 *Added to favorites*

[Flumpkins]

btw, how long did this take you to write?

[GWJax]

It's been an on going article bt to get it into the instructable site about 5 hours of working time. and Thank You for your kind comments about the article but sorry its very long as this is a very hard project to do and more will be added soon. Jax

[Flumpkins]

it'll be added onto? WOW!!! You must be very clever and artistic.

[GWJax]

I still have a long way with this project. I still have to connect it up to the PC and write a program to get him to talk to you and learn your voice and questions as you would talk to a real person. So the upcomming parts are going to be hard and fun. So keep checking back from time to time and see whats been added. Jax

[Flumpkins]

Amazing! Genuis! Are you getting hired to do this or something?!?

[GWJax]

Thank you for your kind words! And no I do not get paid for this, it's just a hobby that I enjoy and I like to share my progress and knowledge with people that enjoy it too. Jax

[Flumpkins]

Your like me in a way. When I get older I wanna be a musician, but not for money, but for the fun of it.

[GWJax]

Cool, I hope you can post a really neat music robot, like a hand playing the piano or something like that. Jax

[Flumpkins]

Eerrg... I don't know about that. I have never EVER introduced a hammer to a nail.

[Dr. Explosion]

That is insanely cool!!!

[GWJax]

Thank you Dr. Explosion for your great comment. Jax

[theophilus]

tengo mucho miedo!!!!!!

[GWJax]

Sorry don't speak Spanish, but thanks for the comment!

[kimpossible]

He's very frightened.

[GWJax]

thanks for the translation Kimpossible!

[Father Christmas]

wow. this is the longest instructable that i have seen! kudos to you!

[GWJax]

Thank You! I hope you enjoyed it so far, I plan on adding to it soon, so keep checking back to see what's new. This is a long project plus its not something you can do in just a weekend its more like months for some and a year for others. I am almost at the half way mark of the project just to let you know. Jax

[potc]

Is there any why to have the elvis mouth move to words from an external audio source? I'm new to this and any help would be great.

[GWJax]

Yes there is I'm working on that right now. There will be some electronics envolved to isolate the voice from a song and use the voice part to interact with the jaw motor I not sure how old you are but back in the early 80's I had a talking radio that when words were spoken or a sond was played the mouth was insink with it. Although it used a solidnoid and magnet for the mouth operation it was really neat to watch. When I finnish up the electronics and add it to the Elvinator I'll let you know, plus keep checking back from time to time to see whats new with the project a we continue this fun Elvis hack. Well at least I think its fun anyway just takes a long time to do.

[potc]

I can't wait! I'm working on making him into a pirate and wanted his mouth to move along with a phrase from the ride at Disney. Look forward to the update and thanks for the quick response.

[GWJax]

Thats a cool idea, I have the sound track for the ride so I'm make sure it works for this app. plus when I get the joystick ready you can record your other movements as well and tye them with the audio. Are you scuplting the skin or do you have a mask that will fit the face?

[Wills42]

Congrats on being featured in Gizmodo... last month... little late... Anyways, awesome project, if I ever have free time... okay, if I ever have the sudden urge to build an elvis/terminator robot, I'll let ya know.

[GWJax]

Thanks I'm glad you liked it. I'm always here if you ever have any questions, plus there is more to come as well. Thanks again, Jax

[Sandisk1duo]

wow, you got like 100 steps to your instructable

[GWJax]

And I have only showed you a 1/4 of it. More is on the way so keep checking back! Oh ya sorry for all those weard symbols in the article I'll fix these the next time I upgrade it and thanks for reading and leaving a comment, I hope you enjoyed it.

[Sandisk1duo]

Good job! A little too much blood though congrats of finally completing your documentation!

[GWJax]

Not quit done yet I still have to connect it up to the PC and animate it so you think you are talking to the Elvinator and he will respond to you as well and the more you talk to it the more it will learn. As of the blood the Vinyl takes almost all of it in so there really is not much at all. the photos were taken just after it was applied and now its getting that nice melting effect I was looking for. I guess I need to post a current picture so you can see what it really looks like after all the drying.

[Sandisk1duo]

I think your going to need to make an instructable just on programing him

[GWJax]

Very true, but more electronics and test programming using the basic stamp2 will be added to this instructable then I'll follow it up by a programming instructable for it. As I said in the begining this is a long project and will take some time to complete. So always check back every week or so and I'll have more to it until the programming is finnished. So I hope everyone will check back and drop a line or two. Thanks again, Jax

[Garth Knight]

Nice build! Has the modded face added any unusual loading or binding to the mechanism(s)? I am wondering how flexible the a vinyl and other stuff is. I haven't worked with them and it looks like fun. I look forward to the next chapter. GK

[GWJax]

there is no binding up at all plus the vinyl is the same stuff rubber worms are made of for it is very flexable. And your right its very fun to work with and the things you can do with this technique is endless. I'll keep you informed when the next part comes out if you like.

[RetroPlayer]

GWJAX,

Retroplayer here from robocommunity (yeah, I hang around here, too.) I just posted an instructable that you might find useful for this project later on.

Check it outCheck it out

[GWJax]

Thanks Retro, I put a vote in for ya and I'm sure that will come in handy if that the way I take it. Thanks again for the info. Jax

[RetroPlayer]

Thanks. I had already put in a vote for you and 4mem8. Just never got around to saying "hello." I am working on the cartridge reader for the elvis at the moment.

[GWJax]

Cool keep me informed on what you find, Plus I'm adding to this instructable tonight, I just finnished it up in word so I'm going edit it now. check it later and let me know what you think so far. all this will is being added to Article #5 on R/C

[JellyWoo]

Very nice. I'm interested but not that good with robots and programming. Good luck with the elvinator! ;)

[GWJax]

Thank you. With a little bit or time in studding electronic and ripping dow some robots you could be on you way to making and creating you own hack and mods of other robots like I'm doind with the Elvinator.

[JellyWoo]

oh yeah, btw, sharper image is closing so everything is 40-60% off and i saw the elvis robot there. (in case you are interested)

[GWJax]

Thanks JelloWoo I have already went to our store and they were sold out but I still can get them from WowWee bust only with no remote if I need to, but I think I will go back to my other design for the Ailen robot which may take me about 2 years before completting it.

[ProfessorJWN]

Very nice, but I must tell you that the Elvinator was coined in 1995 and I actually built a halloween costume to commemorate the "king of Rock and roll" The Elvinator arrived complete with a 8 barrel mini-gun constructed from PVC and a variety of futuristic weapons. Also include the Elvis Plastic hair wig, terminator mask, and the obligatory light up "led eye iris" Unfortunately (fortunately??) no photos remain of the King, however his tagline was "You've bee a wonderful audience, thank you very much.....I'LLL BE BACK!" I still have the belt I wore (it has T3 on it......long before the sequel) Good Job on the instructable, and the tribute to the king and the greatest action star of all time. JWN

[GWJax]

I did not know that the Elvinator was coined backin in the 95's. I love the tag line I may incorporate that into the Elvinator for a tribute to the King and your costme. Thanks for your comment

[santy22]

Ha-Ha !
the "no skin face" looks li the biccentenial man
Fat guy: *takes off face cover*
Andrew: *sees his "face" in the mirror* -Wahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!1one1eleven!
Robot Chick: *sees andrew face-Throws metal thingy* .-Waahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!11
Fat guy:-Whats going on here??????
Andrew: I saw my inner me

[GWJax]

LOL nice one thats for the laugh!

[KaptinScarlet]

Absolutely amazing! I thought he had died, but I always knew he'd be back, I guess he already has a Wooden Heart :-P

[GWJax]

Thanks for the comment, A truly fun project. Thanks for the great comment Jax

[KaptinScarlet]

No Problem, I will, it's amazing

[GWJax]

Thank you very much Jax

[GWJax]

Plus don't forget to check back from time to time for more information on the Elvinator as I go and please tell all your friends about The Elvinator Project, Thanks Jax

[EnigmaMax]

This reminds me of the first boss on god of war 2. (the golden statue)

[GWJax]

Nice comment thanks! He must have been really ugly. hehehe Jax

[killerjackalope]

Amazing project, I meant to comment earlier when I featured but had work, truly great work, I am really impressed with the final look of the thing...

[GWJax]

Just to let you know I updated the instructible more if you want to take a look and see whats new. Jax

[GWJax]

It's not finished yet, the look that you see has changed since I have added hot pour vynal to it. it really gives it a melted look now.

[killerjackalope]

I really look forward to seeing that, great project, Pm me when you're finshed adding the second 'ible I'd like to get them featured....

[GWJax]

Sure will killerjackalope

[James (pseudo-geek)]

THE ELVIS TERMINATOR!

[GWJax]

Thats where the ELVINATOR name came from James. Thnks for the comment Jax

[coolz]

more like ELVIS IS BEING TERMINATED!

[GWJax]

ya but only half way He will still have his lip movement.

[skimboarder33]

wow! complicated yet interesting i saw one of them at the mall and it was pretty cool does anyone here own a dog i found this great instructable called tips on dog toys that really work!

[GWJax]

it is pretty complicated, thats why I'm doing it. I glad you like it just remember there is more to come. Jax PS my small dogs never play with toys but I'll check it out.

[Bisquick the ninja]

AGHGHGAA!!! Gather ninja brethren!! Its a terminator!!!!! ... Oh wait never mind! It's just elvis! :9

[GWJax]

lol great comment!

[4mem8]

Hey Gw, Nice set of instructables, Should please a lot people here, i know i was impressed with your project when I first saw it. Well done.

[GWJax]

Thanks 4mem8 and it was fun to come up with the name and product too thanks to you and everyone else at robocommunity. Well you know that there is a lot more that I still have not posted yet and you always get the first peek anyways. hehehe

[Culturedropout]

Wow! That's pretty amazing. I'm not sure if I'm more impressed with the amount of effort the company put into making this thing, or the amount you put into taking it apart! The mold-making and casting of the replacement eye looks like fun. I'm anxious to see the rest of your article. Great work!

[GWJax]

Thanks Culturedropout, I agree with you on the amount of effort WowWee put into this head but it was really fun to rip it down to and change it. And yes mold making is fun but can be nerve racking at the same time. thanks for the great comment.

[Jahoovi]

dang did u get this idea from "Terminater"?

[andyhuntdesigns]

Keen observational skills! A++

[GWJax]

Thanks andyhuntdesigns for your great comment! Jax

[GWJax]

It was a collective thought through robocommunity.com as we had thrown around a lot of diffrent types of masks or creatures but we ended up with the Terminator theme since everyone loved the movies and wanted to see one come to life. I got the idea of the burnt flesh from a picture of the Terminator I saw online and felt that I would still keep the King of rock and roll Elvis in the new product but as a Terminator. So thats how the Elvinator was born.

[gmoon]

Wow! When it's done, post a vid...

_{"I feel my temperature rise..."}

[GWJax]

Y I thought that too but it is a thrill to do this, wait till I post the skining process, now thats freaky! lol Jax

[GWJax]

more videos will come as I add to this project and onced finnished I'll have alot of videos of it, thanks for your comment Jax

[=SMART=]

The first half of this instructable (before electronics) was really freaky lol, peeling back the face and stuff :P

[i.am.mozman]

Have seen the micro-itx boards? They're a full PC smaller than a deck of cards. You might be able to cram one with a USB wifi adapter in the head and control it remotely. Or have Elvis control the PC... "Elvis, play me a tune" and on comes Jail House rock through the stereo speakers.

[GWJax]

good idea I'll look into to that, thanks

[Garth Knight]

Wow I an inspired... I want to use these techniques to anamate a lifecast bust of myself.

[GWJax]

I almost done that too but I wanted a little bit mot flexablity in the mouth area. thans for the comment

[bumpus]

That is truly an awesome project, 5/5 stars
_{and you shoulda put the skin mask on, not to be morbid or anything}

[GWJax]

Thank you for your comment and your rating, I will have more for you all as soon as I can that includes the skinning process.