Hi Everyone, I've been lurking on this forum for a while without making a post. I'm a standup comedian based in London and I'm trying to hack a teddy ruxpin much like a few other posters have done here.
I've been doing research but I'm still fairly confused.
A wee bit about me I'm used to working with software but software with a GUI. I can write CSS & HTML but that's about as far as I am with code thus far. That's not to say I couldn't learn; and I was rather looking forward to learning some code in this project but the question is which code!
I'm not amazing with my hands but I'm not averse to soldering, cutting and glueing.
I'm quite good at working through problems.
About the Project.
What I want to achieve is the following:
1. Teddy Ruxpin needs to be able to:
i) Move mouth ii) Blink iii) Move head side to side; ideally, 360. iv) Move arms up and down v) Flap arms. vi) Move head up and down
Essentially everything that Waldes on this forum managed to do:
2. I need to be able to have a 'script' for Teddy Ruxpin to say and do. I will be able to talk to Teddy Ruxpin and then trigger the sentences with my iPhone or a bluetooth clicker hooked up to my Mac.
3. Teddy Ruxpin needs to blink in every 20 words or 20 seconds (however often the human blinks).
4. I need to be able to program specific blinks and mouth openings too. For instance
i)I click the bluetooth remote Teddy says hello there ii) I click the bluetooth remote Teddy blinks twice. iii) I wait 20 seconds without doing anything, Teddy blinks twice anyway.
5. Ideally, it would also be great to be able to talk into a microphone and have Teddy Ruxpin speak it, together with some automated movements.
The Current Situation
I bought a Teddy Ruxpin that a guy had already pre-hacked for an art project. www.afrugallery.com/sean/ I hooked it up to an Arduino Uno and some software he provided and have been successful in getting the mouth to move, eyes to blink. That's as far as I got. I bought another Teddy Ruxpin knowing that i was going to have to take on the whole thing myself if I was going to be able to customise it to my liking.
Equipment I have as of December 2014
1 x Bearduino arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/07/bearduino-hacking-teddy-ruxpin-with-arduino/ 1 x Arduino Uno 1 x Regular Teddy Ruxpin (unhacked) A lot of enthusiasm.
So, where do I start guys?
I have a mac but I can run Windows in a virtual environment. I make presentations during my comedy and use keynote for that. It might well be that I would need to run the Teddy Ruxpin separately from a different computer anyway; ideally my iPad I think to be honest.
I know this is a LOT to take in but I would LOVE to get any advice from you guys about where to start. I mean I literally don't know where to begin. The main thing i"m worried about is the software; I mean I know nothing about programming an Arduino. But I'm a fast learner and raring to go.
All best wishes, James
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Cool Rich, then the ones in the Kit will turn Teddy's head 360 like James wants.
@James, don't count out the camera. You may find that it's a cool thing to have installed. With the camera tracking you can have his head turn and follow movement or colors. The ping sensor can start a script that will let him do things like say something or move when someone gets in a certain range.
Sorry that's 180 degrees total, not 180 degrees in either direction from centre. the standard servo will only turn to point left, right or centre not backwards. For that it would need a modified servo and would have no position control.
@James, I still get creeped out when I see that video cut. Still cant eat pea soup. sick
The Kit has a continuous servo in it. You just have to be cretin it doesn't spin round and around. It would twist up all the wires going through the neck.
Something to consider with modified servos. Usually you need to remove the pot and that causes you to loose position control. There are ways around that though but now we are getting complicated. tired
Ok. As far as I can tell, to start I need
I need EZ-B v4 WiFi Robot Controller Heavy Duty servo (For the arms) Humanoid Body (do I need this? seems like a good idea)
But I think I also need. Pan and tilt servo for the eyes. (can't find here, servo city?) 2S LiPo 5000mh (can't find here, servo city?) Battery charger. Skeleton for the arms.? Skull of some sort? The guy on here who did it before actually replaced the eyes so they could look left and right I think. I tried finding out what he used but to no avail.
synthiam.com/Community/Questions/7
A servo for the neck side to side A servo for the neck look up / look down.
Is that it? If so can you advise me on the remaining items. I can just imagine me sitting down to do this and discovering I have forgotten something vital.
This is all brilliant advice: Thanks guys!
The neck up, down, side to side is called pan and tilt. You can make your own but servo city has them prebuilt. However I don't know if any of them will fit in your application.
The eyes only need a micro servo each and linkage.
Rich has built a bot called Marvin that has blinking eyes and a mouth that reacts in sink to a sound file. You should take a look at his project.
I guess you could just get a Revolution JD and adapt it into your bear. However that would take some tinkering also.
Awesome