# Animatronic Hand



## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

I have developed an animatronic hand made from vinyl tubing, 5 micro servos, and mdf palm mount. Thought you all may be interested.










It was originally posted on the DIYChristmas.org site... and here is the link showing the development. This was easier than re-posting all the threads here.

http://www.diychristmas.org/vb1/showthread.php?4111-Animatronic-Hand










Here are a couple of final demo videos if you don't want to read through the other link...











Final demo... hand standing up...


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## mikkojay (Sep 15, 2014)

That is really neat! My first thought for an adaptation was a single index finger version that could do a "come hither" type motion.
Thanks, Mike


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:That is very impressive. I especially like the video of the hand with the glove on it, it looks just like a real hand! You have got to be pleased as punch with how that turned out.


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## dstading (Aug 6, 2014)

Very nice! You could attach a second line to the opposite side of the fingers (and around the bobbins) to have the bobbins straighten the fingers as well as bend them. Although the glove seems to speed up the straightening. This hand would make a very convincing "Thing" prop!


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

All,

Thanks for the kind words. I too thought this would make a great "Thing". 

The glove (skin over mechanism) does help with the believability. 

The single finger "come Hither" is a great idea. And simplifies the build.


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Very well done!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Yes, but can it play piano?

Really convincing movement in the leather glove. Is there a way to position the thumb so it's more opposable to the other fingers? That would add to the believability, although most folks would likely not notice that detail in a final prop.


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

RoxyBlue said:


> Yes, but can it play piano?
> 
> Really convincing movement in the leather glove. Is there a way to position the thumb so it's more opposable to the other fingers? That would add to the believability, although most folks would likely not notice that detail in a final prop.


 Yes...that is my plan. During the development of this prototype, one thing I discovered is that the thumb needs to be elevated a bit and turned towards other fingers. In my haste to get a working prototype, I attached it the simplest way... which isn't always the best.

It did prove the concept.... now to tweak.

Also, I am developing an Articulated Model with Sensors (small model with potentiometers at key joints) where I will puppeteer the performance and record it with my 8 channel Servo Recorder Playback 60 application. That way I can get organic compound motions recorded and then played back on cue.

If interested, here is the link to my open source Servo Recorder Playback software package that runs on the Propeller Activity Board and 8 servos...
http://www.diychristmas.org/vb1/showthread.php?2631-Servo-Recorder-Player-and-Servo-Player

(BTW...this is the same code we used on Halstaff's Papa Voodoo and now Big Red)


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

And for those interested, here is my write-up on Puppeteering...an alternative approach to capturing realistic motions in your animatronic props...

http://www.diychristmas.org/vb1/showthread.php?2324-Puppeteering-Animatronic-Props


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

bobzilla said:


> Very well done!


 Thanks Bob... very nice of you.


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

dstading said:


> Very nice! You could attach a second line to the opposite side of the fingers (and around the bobbins) to have the bobbins straighten the fingers as well as bend them. Although the glove seems to speed up the straightening. This hand would make a very convincing "Thing" prop!


 That is terrific idea and it did cross my mind at the time of developing this prop. The reason I went with the "Self Righting" vinyl tubing, is that it reduced the complexity a bit and allowed a quicker fab while sacrificing the recovery time of the digitals.

Will my method work for all applications?... most likely not, especially if a stronger force is needed on the return. But... if it works just good enough... whew... it sure saves some time on the build.


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

You're welcome!
All of this is way over my head, but I find it very fascinating, and admire your skills!
Thank you for posting all of your many talents 



Lightman said:


> Thanks Bob... very nice of you.


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

I started experimenting with liquid latex to eventually create a hand with all the detail captured. To begin this process I started experimenting with just doing my forefinger on my left hand with great results.










Here is my "how Its Done" thread...
http://diychristmas.org/vb1/showthread.php?4111-Animatronic-Hand&p=47218&viewfull=1#post47218

The results are so good I think I'll be able to fab up an entire hand now. Just got to go buy some more liquid latex tomorrow.


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## scubaspook (Dec 16, 2010)

Nice work. I think halstaff needs to look at this for his new build this year.


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## Evil Elf (Dec 24, 2013)

Incredible!


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

Thanks for the kind words.

I ran another test with watered down latex using my thumb as the model. Although a thinner latext skin, it came out pretty good...










Here is thumb mounted on mechanism along with forefinger...


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

Today I successfully cast a full hand using 10 layers of liquid latex. Total casting session was about 3 hours as I had to wait for layers to dry.


















Here is a link to some of the process details...

http://www.diychristmas.org/vb1/showthread.php?4111-Animatronic-Hand&p=47320&viewfull=1#post47320

Here is link to a tutorial on how I cast the hand where the 3 hours is reduced to 34 minutes....


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## The Halloween Lady (Aug 18, 2010)

Seeing your animatronic hand inside the glove was sort of creepy. Waaay cool but creepy. It's movement was so human like it sort of flipped me out a bit! I can only imagine how mind boggling it will look once you have tweeked the thumb. I can't wait to see this finished!!!


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