Squirrel! -- a mechanical dog head sculpture by Dave Johnson

Dave Johnson has done it again with this fascinating mechanical dog head. Check out the action of the on-demand attention button. It's like hand-cranked animatronics!

The dog's head is capable of movement in four directions including side-to-side, up and down, the jaw, and the ears. Each movement is conveyed via pushrod. The pushrods sit on contoured cams, which are driven by a set of gears.

From the video description:

This machine is yet another attempt to get random(ish) movement from a decidedly non-random hand crank. The 4 gear pairs that drive the cams have slightly different gear ratios, so it takes something like 100 turns of the crank before the whole sequence repeats. The ear and jaw movements are also dependent on the current yaw and pitch position, so the result is a semi-random mishmash of movement. When the Big Red Button (BRB) is pushed, it lowers the cams out of the way, and the head falls into Squirrel! position.

Johnson has very cleverly integrated a bellows on the front of the machine. The moving air serves to soften the motion of the head after the red button is released. That's a very nice subtlety that most people wouldn't notice. But watch again and imagine if that wasn't there.

Here is where you can see still photos of Dave Johnson's Squirrel!

---

Terrifying animatronic baby in stroller scares the living crap out of unsuspecting New Yorkers

Have you seen this video of a Devil Baby scaring New Yorkers half to death? Some are funny, but I just feel bad for most of these folks. This thing looks real and is frightening! An animatronic baby and remote-controlled stroller are a promotional stunt for Devil's Due film to be released this month.

According to The Examiner, the robotic devil baby was created by Creature Effects Inc., the company who has created animatronic effects for movies such asI Am Legend and Star Trek. There were three people operating the horrific device -- one for the stroller and two for the baby.

I doubt I'll see the movie, but I would watch a video on the making of the mechanical baby.

If you aspire to scare the crap out of New Yorkers, then here is list of books on animatronics to get you started. Happy hunting!

[ Thanks Steve and Jere! ]

---

Fritz, the open source robotic head, reaches $41,000 dollars in funding on Kickstarter!

Kerwin Lumpkins has a startup company that recently had a robotic head project on Kickstarter. As you will see in the video, Fritz is a robotic puppet head that you can control with an easy to use computer application. The advanced version has moving eyes, jaw, eyelids, eyebrows, and neck.

From the company web site:

Fritz is an animatronic puppet that is controlled by an Arduino microcontroller. Fritz was created to provide an inexpensive introduction into robotics that is both entertaining, creative and educational. With an open source directive, Fritz is accompanied by a PC application to provide you with an easy to use interface in customizing and interacting with the project mechanics.

The project is currently funded way over it's goal of $25K. In fact, they received over $41,000 in funding from 236 backers. The crowd has spoken and they want laser cut wooden robot heads! I love this crowd.

You can learn more about Fritz the robotic head on the Kickstarter page or on the www.xyzbot.com web site.

---

The Electric Animal Circus: it's robots in a circus...what's not to like?

Any of my attempts to explain The Electric Animal Circus will fall short. As the title of the post implies, it involves a circus, robots, and a dose of humor.

Beyond watching the film above, their website says this:

Pozzo and Grotsky's Electric Animal Circus is a new type of live show: robot animals performing circus-inspired acts in a post-apocalyptic variety show. This website exists to showcase the project as it develops from concept to stage.

If you enjoyed the introductory film, here is one featuring The Great Maestro Pickleton and His Unusual Musical Octopus:

And while the film feels like something that might be a Kickstarter project, the web site says that the project is Financed by Deutsche Bank. I may be missing a joke here, but that's what it says.

[ Thanks Joe! ]

---

Animatronic thumb provides unbiased decisions on demand

Take a look at this clever animatronic piece by Philip Lowndes. Though the piece is titled "Thumbs-up" that doesn't mean you will always get that sign. In fact, it is a capable of making random "yes" or "no" decisions based on its programming. The machine is equipped with a sensor that detects when a hand is waved in front of it, which sets it in motion.

From the artist's web site:

Animatronic moody decision making machine that makes decisions without bias, conflicts of interest, lobbying. No need for any background or relevant information. Just stand in front of the machine and it will give you its decisions. Useful for checking dress sense, purchase and investment decisions (at your own risk), strategies to save the Euro etc.

The piece is constructed from wood, nylon and brass. Toward the end of the video you can see the profile of some lovely wooden gears. The entire system is controlled by an Arduino microcontroller.

The mood of the machine can be changed to suit your needs by adjusting a knob on the front. Blue is a bad mood, green neutral, and yellow good.

Here is where you can learn more about the Thumbs-up Animatronic Decsion-Maker.

---