Current Mechanism Build
I became infatuated with animatronics in 2022,
One day, a friend of mine was playing "Rock-afire Explosion" videos in the background while we were painting. I thought to myself, "Why do those look familiar?" despite the very fact that I was not alive during the era of "Showbiz Pizza Place".
Ever since that day, I decided to dive head first into animatronics, and to say I fell in love with the artistry of it all would be an understatement.
After studying lots of pictures and videos, I made a scaled-model to understand the physics at play. Once I understood how everything works, I began to build my first full-sized character in December 2022.
The mechanism itself took me 6 months to build. I consider this first assembly to be a prototype, and I am now constructing the final figure.
First "Prototype" Assembly
I had zero robotics, electronics, and mechanical design experience prior to starting this project. This project was completely personal and done outside of school related activities.
I learned more through my interest an animatronics than I ever have before. I taught myself everything there is to know. Just to name a few:
I learned how to cut metal, use a manual mill, lathe, band saw, and belt grinder during my time in the machine shop. I learned to fasten pieces together in various ways, 3D model parts to be 3D printed, hose a pneumatic figure, wire solenoid valves, build a solenoid valve bank, design mechanisms to work with linear actuators, and much more.
Body Mechanism
Arm Mechanism
Head Mechanism
I plan to build an entire band of characters, complete with a stage set-up and coinciding artwork to introduce the new group of characters into the world of animatronics. I want to build an engaging and unique show, just like how some of the greatest animatronic engineers of the past have done.
Early Head Mechanism Assembly
