# Animtronic Band



## Plastic Ninja (Sep 30, 2010)

I've been wanting to add an animatronic band to my display for a long time, but I don't have an idea how to start or where to look for comparable builds. 

I was thinking of something like a really scaled down version of the old Chuck E Cheese bands, but I can't find much on how they're put together, or how to put one together myself. 

Any general ideas you have on what the simplest method for pulling the effect off with the least amount of knowledge required would be great. I've never tried something like this before, so the more idiot proof the better.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

For those who aren't familiar with the band, here's an example:






I expect the techies will chime in, but I don't know that there's a real simple way to do this if you're a novice to setting up and programming animation. There's a fair amount of work that goes into animating a figure and giving it a voice, based on what I've seen in builds posted here. However, if anyone can provide guidance on a stripped-down build, I'm sure more than one person here will be interested.


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## Evil Elf (Dec 24, 2013)

There is a yard haunt "Boney Island" (www.boneyisland.com) where they had a very simple band. Just skeletons that moved their mouths, held some instruments, and one that drummed. The drumming was achieved by some strings tied to his wrists and attached to a motor up above. Simple, but when together it looked like a band. you can find some pics and video on the site. Hope that gets you started.


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## Plastic Ninja (Sep 30, 2010)

RoxyBlue said:


> I expect the techies will chime in, but I don't know that there's a real simple way to do this if you're a novice to setting up and programming animation. There's a fair amount of work that goes into animating a figure and giving it a voice, based on what I've seen in builds posted here. However, if anyone can provide guidance on a stripped-down build, I'm sure more than one person here will be interested.


The ones that they use in those kind of shows are very well animated very expressive, because if they aren't they're terrifying. On the other hand, that's kinda what I'm going for so honestly simple and non-fluid is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.



Evil Elf said:


> There is a yard haunt "Boney Island" (www.boneyisland.com) where they had a very simple band. Just skeletons that moved their mouths, held some instruments, and one that drummed. The drumming was achieved by some strings tied to his wrists and attached to a motor up above. Simple, but when together it looked like a band. you can find some pics and video on the site. Hope that gets you started.


I took a look around and I found what you were talking about. I don't think there's a viable way to pull that off for me. Thanks for the help though!


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Yup, Boney Island is a bunch of flying crank ghost mechanisms. Super easy if you have the ability to hang something overhead.

My recommendation to you would be to start with a small project, like a talking skull, to start to understand how things work, and go from there. If you can make a jaw go up and down in sync with the voice (and there are many ways to do it), you'll find that adding other movements is much easier to wrap your head around.


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## SuperCreep31 (Nov 22, 2009)

There is a whole community online - especially on YouTube showing the behind the scenes of these characters. The Chuck E Cheese characters are all pneumatic. The version that Roxy posted was actually originally the Rock-afire Explosion band from the 80s and their costumes were converted when Showbiz Pizza bought out Chuck E Cheese. Aaron Fechter is the inventor of the mechanisms for these. I've never tried contacting him asking him for advice/help but he is very passionate about his creations and loves to talk to people who are as passionate as he is about them. (Just don't mention Chuck E Cheese to him because he very openly hates the company) That might be a good place to start and be sure to post progress! I would love to make an animatronic like this myself!


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## Plastic Ninja (Sep 30, 2010)

SuperCreep31 said:


> There is a whole community online - especially on YouTube showing the behind the scenes of these characters. The Chuck E Cheese characters are all pneumatic. The version that Roxy posted was actually originally the Rock-afire Explosion band from the 80s and their costumes were converted when Showbiz Pizza bought out Chuck E Cheese. Aaron Fechter is the inventor of the mechanisms for these. I've never tried contacting him asking him for advice/help but he is very passionate about his creations and loves to talk to people who are as passionate as he is about them. (Just don't mention Chuck E Cheese to him because he very openly hates the company) That might be a good place to start and be sure to post progress! I would love to make an animatronic like this myself!


Thanks for the lead!


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