Animatronic help wanted

[leliebel]

Hi, I've got a bit of a problem.

I've made a creature that I can puppeteer but since I want to display it on it's own I want it to also move on it's own.

And another problem is that I want it to move on sound.

Now, I've got this animatronic bear, I've had it for ages, with a tapedeck in it's back and I was wondering if it's possible to make something like that myself, or to buy the basic structure to adapt it.

And is all animatronics licensed by the way? I mean am I even allowed to use it?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

You can buy animatronics kits that will sync movement using MIDI. That sounds like it would be the way to go for you. I'm not very familiar with a lot of the kits on the market, but try doing some Googling for "animatronic MIDI kit" and you should find some useful links.

I've got a few animatronics links that might be helpful listed here.

You should be able to gut an existing animatronic figure and use the parts without any potential legal problem, but if this was for commercial purposes I would double check that just in case.

 

[leliebel]

Thannk you for the advice, but unfortunately I haven't found any kits yet that are simple enough for me. I lkeep finding really complex android-like things though, but I want to keep it simple for a start.
I have been looking for animatronics toys to gut and I'm still hopeful in that department.

But I've come up with another idea. Next year is my final year of artschool and I figured I could study animatronics for a final project and for my thesis. I know a few people that study at a technical university nearby and I could perhaps enlist their help.