# Small Self Contained Servo Control Help



## Skeletons in my closet (Sep 25, 2007)

I'm throwing myself to the mercy of the board, as I know there are MANY smarter people on here than me.

I'm still a newbie with servos and their controller boards, and animation in general (use talking skulls AKA Scary Terry style, wiper motor props, etc). I'd like to put together or purchase a small self-contained controller board and servo (1-2) kit that could be worn as part of a costume and triggered with a switch to just turn, gyrate, etc. For our Halloween party this year, we are doing a zombie prom theme. My wife will be 8 months pregnant by then. I'm thinking of creating a way of having arms (corpsified baby or alien) sticking out of her stomach that will move when she triggers it by a button or something similar. It only needs to move a bit to freak some people, nothing fancy and no sound necessary. However, I'd like it to be able to run off a battery pack and do either a programmed move or a general move/rotation for a few seconds and stop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## Skeletons in my closet (Sep 25, 2007)

I've found these now that I've posted to ask everyone. Any other ideas would still be appreciated. This is kind of what I'm looking for:

This one is more of a manual control:
http://www.servocity.com/html/dual_servo_driver.html

This one is more automatic:
http://www.servocity.com/html/servo_recorder_playback_contro.html


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## eanderso13 (Apr 10, 2008)

*Cool*

Hey! That's a cool idea! There's actually a company called Monstertronics that makes wearable animated costumes, but they are expensive!

I like your find in the 4-servo, somewhat programmable control unit. Very easy to use, I'm sure.

For morecontrol over movements and triggering, you may even look at a Prop-1 controller from EFX-Tek. Not sure if it can be run off of batteries for too long, but if you're willing to do some programming, you may end up with more interesting ans randon results.

For sheer simplicity, what you found is great! Do you have any ideas on what you're going to do to translate the servo movements to the appendages?


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## Skeletons in my closet (Sep 25, 2007)

I'm worried about the run time on the Prop-1 also, but it looks like a good product that I know a lot of people have used in other ways.

I'm not sure on the specifics yet, as this is the first I've thought to go this route for the costume. But I'm thinking of using 2 servos, clockwise/counterclockwise, and attaching them to the inside of the costume somehow, protected from skin and fabric. The arm of the servos will go through and maybe attach to some doll arms (corpsified) at the elbow or shoulder. Then, depending on the angle of attachment, they should rotate, go up and down, or move in other ways.


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## Skeletons in my closet (Sep 25, 2007)

eanderso13 said:


> Hey! That's a cool idea! There's actually a company called Monstertronics that makes wearable animated costumes, but they are expensive!
> QUOTE]
> 
> That site is pretty cool. That's kind of the effect I'm going for. Thanks for the link!


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## randyaz (May 26, 2006)

Here is an animated tail. It could be adapted for several things. Food for thought...

http://www.wolftronix.com/videos/PA010005.MOV
http://www.wolftronix.com/tail/


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