Dancing pirate automaton by Tim Donald

Here's a fun dancing pirate automaton by Tim Donald. The dancing action is not unlike the classic dancing figure folk toy known as a limberjack or a jig doll. According to Wikipedia they have had many names, but the common element is a figure with loose joints that appears to dance when placed just above a vibrating board. The automaton shown here is different in that the floor is stationary and the dancer is made to move by turning a hand-crank. This version probably makes things a lot easier!

Here is where you can see more automata by Tim Donald.

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Book: Making Whirligigs, Whimsies, & Folk Toys

If you haven't seen it yet, check out this book by Rodney Frost! This is the man who brought us Making Mad Toys & Mechanical Marvels in Wood as well as Whacky Toys, Whirligigs & Whatchamacallits, and Creative Kinetics: Making Mechanical Marvels in Wood.

As with all of Rodney Frost's books, this one is full of wonderful mechanical toy projects, solid advice on how to make them, step-by-step instructions, and large diagrams of the projects. The author -- known for his clever designs and charming folk aesthetics -- covers how to create whirligigs, traditional folk toys with interesting variations, and some unusual new kinetic creations. There are full-size patterns for 19 projects in total.

Rodney Frost's books are among the most useful for those interested in learning to build their own kinetic creations, whirligigs, and automata out of wood.

Here is where you can order Making Whirligigs, Whimsies, & Folk Toys

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Compilation video of a assorted wooden ramp-walker toy designs

We've featured the work of Roberto Lou Ma many times here on The Automata Blog. As you may recall, he designs wooden toys that are able to walk down a slight incline. Some of his designs have free plans, such as the ramp-walking wooden robot and the a ramp-walking wooden rhino toy.

In the video shown here, we get to see the breadth of his creativity within this genre. There are wooden ramp walkers depicting penguins, turkeys, whales, robots, apes, celebrities, elephants, monsters, dinosaurs, and more. A full 5 minutes of gravity-powered wooden toys that show true creativity.

Something that struck me on a few of the figures was the presence of an animated limb -- the troubadour's hand for example. A counterweight on an axis running parallel to the ramp has allowed the figure a secondary motion (strumming the guitar) that adds life and subtlety to the character. It's amazing how so many of them have been designed to capture some essential aspect of how the figure should move -- all within some tight physical constraints. Bravo!

Here is Roberto Lou Ma's YouTube channel, where you can see individual clips of his ramp-walkers and other wooden toys.

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How to make a wooden rope-climbing monkey toy

Engineer and Toy Designer, Roberto Lou Ma, has done it again! He has come up with a new take on a classic wooden toy. He has created a rope-climbing monkey toy out of wood. As is his custom, he has provided free plans for making the toy. The plans are in Spanish, but with the detailed pictures and measurements provided, most people should be able to figure how make the toy themselves -- even if they don't know Spanish.

Here's what the climbing monkey toy looks like up close:

Here is the link to the free plans for a wooden rope climbing monkey toy.

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Classic acrobat toy driven by push button-action

Here's a nice version of a classic wooden folk toy. An acrobat figure is mounted by the hands to two twisted strings held between two upright bars. When the button is pushed, the bars are separated, causing the strings to untwist. It's this untwisting motion that makes the acrobat perform speedy somersaults. Unlike the more traditional version where you use your hand to squeeze the bars, the version shown in the video has been converted to operate via a large push-button. This clever adaptation of a classic toy is by Roberto Lou Ma, who was kind enough to share with us the plans for the ramp-walking robot and ramp-walking rhino.

For plans and instructions on how to make the traditional acrobat toy, I urge you check out the book Traditional Wooden Toys: Their History and How to Make Them. The book has sections on animated toys, balancing toys, climbing toys, wheeled toys, wooden dolls, rubber-band powered toys, spinning toys, optical toys, games, and many others.

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