Working On A Baby Dragon.

This is awesome!

Very nice work.

If you want something a little better than white garbage bags, old white bed sheets dipped into white glue in the same way that you make paper mache will work 1000x better. It will harden and have a better structure for your body. It paints easy and you can create layers that are shingled to give the effect of scales.

awesome!

It reminds me of the Dragon on DragonSlayer.

Really neat.

Thanks guys I appreciate the kind words. At the moment the hard plastic garbage cans are working just great, but I am very intrigued by the white sheets in glue. I may try that for another build, thanks. Here are some videos of the work so far. Building head.

Magnifico!

Just a suggestion you could pick up some thin fabric for the wings and use polyester or even something stretchy so that it won't wrinkle up and material is usually 3 to 5 dollars a yard. Cool project though. I remember as a kid wanting to build the original power rangers zords. Khudos

that's for the video updates! amazing project!

Dragons are soooo cool. Robot Dragons are even Cooler! Nice idea and work.

What are you going to use to pull back on the neck rods? Seems like your really pulling hard to get him to lift his head?

do you have a template for this project? what kind of cable did you use for the neck? I want to make one!

I cant tell you enough how much I love this project.

Thanks guys, I am using aircraft cable bought it at Home Depot building store. As for pulling the neck cords, They do need a little bit more pull then the EZ robot servo's can manage so I have ordered some higher torque servos they should do the trick, if not then I will have to redo the neck. I do have some templates I have been doing a lot of this with card to get everything right then trace it onto the garbage cans. here is a video of what I did today. Hope you guys like it.

Love it! he looks like he's just out of the egg and trying out his new wings.

Are you going to cover his skeleton with some type of "skin"? I found this stuff called Dragon Skin" through a link Robot58 pointed me to: www.smooth-on.com/Silicone-Rubber-an/c2_1115_1129/index.html

The guy using it in this Instructables tutorial says it's high end and used by a lot of special effects prople. He's actually doing something of the same thing your doing but making a tentacle. Take a look if your intersteted: www.instructables.com/id/Animatronic-Tentacles-with-Arduino/?ALLSTEPS

Keep up the very cool work!

Oh man, when's the kit come out? I want one!

Thanks for those links I will be checking them out once my kids go to school. I do not know if I will be skinning him yet. I am planning on taking him to the local school for my annual visit, (Every year I am invited to the local schools to show off the replica props and costume I make, here's a link to my website http://foamtasticprops.weebly.com/). I thought it would be good for the kids to see the workings of the dragon. I was called my the Principle of one of the schools last year after my visit, he said he had never seen the Gr7-8 class as enthusiastic about anything as he had seen them with regards to how I built the props. I also had a dream last night about the wings, I went to the local hardware store and found some thin hollow pipe (lightweight) that I used instead, it held its shape better then the thin plastic I am currently using. So I may go and see if I can find any today. Thanks for all the kind words about the project, this is my first ever try and animatronics and I am loving it.

Is this gonna be a walker?

No, I was thinking of making a nest as its base.

Well I just got back from the local hard ware store and found the perfect piece of plastic tubing, it is 5ft long and only 7/8 of an inch diameter. It is light weight and should work well for the wings. I will be trying it out tomorrow and will post pictures.

awesome... @skaterjk thanks for the links.

@familyman can you point me in the right direction for a template of this creation...

also, just a thought. same set up for the neck can be used for the body (much bigger rings) and for he tail (much smaller rings.

this way you can get tail movement and the dragon can "sit up"

I will be using the same method for the tail yes, but at the moment the body is going to stay static (at the moment),

Awesome! A very unique interesting project! I really liked the neck/head movement. Perhaps some "bungee" cord or rubber tubbing to help lift the head can be integrated. I will be folowing this thread closely Glen

Thanks guys, I will look into the bungee idea cheers. My glass beads came in the mail so I was able to make the eyes today.

I'm not sure why you used such heavy duty cables on the neck, is there gonna be a load on this? You could just use clear vinyl hose in the spine and clear fishing line to actuate it. Maybe that'll be easier on the standard servo.

What skin are you gonna use? Silicone?

The eyes and eyelid mech looks great

Thanks,. This is my first ever try at anything like this, so with regards to the neck it was a learn while I do it kind of thing. When I do the tail I will be better at it and then maybe go back and redo the neck. Thanks for the tips though I will give it a try. Cheers. Not sure I am skinning it at the moment.

Hey @famikyman. , just know. Most of us have been here for a while, improving on each others ideas.

But it's been a while since something so McEwen and so clean has come up.

Hope we aren't overwhelming you with ideas.

I honestly feel this project brought a few of us back to life.

Thanks....and what's up with some templates man!

I am loving all the advice you guys have given, it has been very helpful, I am having trouble with the tail though, if anyone wants to offer some advice lol. If you guys really want some templates of this I would be more then happy to try and put that together. I am planning on putting a template section on my site and once I get that done I will add the dragon parts. Is it just the head or the wings people want?.

Super awesome. I've always been a dragon fan. I love this bot. I too want to know when the kit comes out LOL.

Hi, on the neck. What is the middle shaft made out of? Is that a tight spring? I am thinking this design could be a great upgrade to the arms on my Mini-B9 robot. If you could give some detail on that neck assembly that would be fantastic! I sooooo love this build.

@familyman yes please! head neck and wings...

Bump @familyman any updates?

Can't wait to see more. This is incredible!

Sorry guys, had a house full of sick kids lately, I will be updating this build real soon.

sucks!

and thanks.

Well, really not having fun with this now. I am trying to use my ps3 controller to control my robot. I can get the joystick#1 to move forward/backward and left/right. But when I try to add some buttons everything goes nuts. This what I have set up. Robot dragon.. Joystick#1 up/down controls head up/down. Joystick#1 left/right controls head left/right

Then I wanted two buttons to control left and right wings. I tried the L1 and L2 buttons and then I tried the Square and Circle buttons. They both worked seperatly, but then when I try to move the head and press the buttons all the servos start acting crazy and I get the error message 'Disgard incoming buffer (This should never happen)' and then I lose connection with the EZ board.

So all in all not very happy that I will not be able to do what I wanted with this build.

@familyman>

Thought you might like this video.

Bionic Handling Assistant

@familyman it sounds like you are drawing too much current that your power supply can handle, please try upgrading your battery or wall wart to something that can deliver more current. 7.4V LiPo batteries are great for robotic applications and can be found at most RC hobby stores. Hope that helps you should be able to search the forums for other ways people here in the forums have solved this issue.

Yup definitely not enough power!. I am now running baby dragon off of a wall outlet and not having any problems now. I just had him outside plugged in for over 30 minutes and played with him on and off for over 15 minutes and had no glitches or reset's. Here are a few more videos of him outside today. Just baby Dragon..

I totally dig this project

Thanks man, that means a lot. In fact that goes out to everyone who has been kind enough to comment and help out. I know this is not the normal kind of robot most people build. I have been building replica props for about 3 years now and like I have said this is my first try at anything with electronics in. I work on little to no budget, The only way I was able to get the EZB was from my parents, my kids and a great wife who gave me early Christmas/Birthday money lol. Not including the cost of the EZB I have spent around $40 on this build an most of that was for some micro servos and 2 higher torque ones. This community has really made me feel welcome and the fact that so many people are so eager to help out is great. Not only that but having DJ Sures answering peoples questions as well really shows the level of care and dedication to the product and the customer.

@familyman, Can I ask about the xbox controller? As in, is it connected to your PC via bluetooth? Is the code available somewhere? I'm very interested in that. I still think this is just such a super cool project. Thanks

Thanks man, The controller is connected via Bluetooth yes. There is an option in the ARC to operate it. But you need a xbox360 wireless dongle. Just do an ebay search for XBOX 360 wireless PC. lots will come up. Hope this helps. There is a post about it on the boards here. https://synthiam.com/community/forum/posts.aspx?threadId=226

Thanks for the link I appreciate it. Baby Dragon is so cool. It looks so nice and professional. All of my stuff looks like it was made from garbage in a garage. (Probably because it is lol )

LOL, thank you I appreciate the compliments. You can't get much more garbage looking then the dragon after all it is being made out of garbage cans! lol. And you are welcome, glad I could help out.

This.is.amazing! We can't wait to see the end result and help share it with the world! Really great job so far

Thank you. I have been busy lately working on Halloween costumes for my 4 kids. But I finally found some time to finish baby dragon. I am sure I may tweak a few things here and there but overall she is done. She is not voice controlled, in the video I am just having some fun with her talking to her and then controlling her with an Xbox360 controller. Enjoy the video, and please I welcome any comments/suggestions and even helpful criticism.

Thank you.

Nice presentation and great servo work.

Thank you.

familyman, That has to be one of coolest EZ Robots and presentations. Great movements and introducing emotions. Very good! I like that you also give great attention to your family. Steve S

Thank you very much, I really appreciate the compliments. I can not wait to save up enough to start a new build. This has been awesome fun!.

Here are some close up pictures, I am currently working on my kids Halloween costumes, once done I will be posting some templates of the dragon.

It should have hawk feet. You could watch DragonSlayer for reference.

This is amazing work!

This is BEAUTIFUL!:)

Great progress pics! Keep up the good work Your construction ideas/ photos are valid for many other robot applications.

Thank you, I am in the process of making another one, I am taking more indepth photo's and video's I will be posting in a few days.

Hi, That is AWESOME, good work.

Hey, I love your dragon and would love to make one of my own for a costume I would like to do. Could you please let me know some of the items you used for the wings. I am not too experienced in robotics and am really interested in learning more. Thanks and awesome work.

Here all the videos about the building of my Dragon that I have done so far. I am working on more.

Thank you all for your support. Jamie Young.. https://www.facebook.com/FoamtasticProps?ref=hl

Wow! That is fantastic. And really cute Great job.

familyman, Great build structurally and awesome display of emotions! Thanks for sharing. Steve S

Okay, now I have to build one of these...

This.is.awesome.

eek

Thank you all for the kind words. I was contacted by DJ Sures asking me what had happened to the videos because he was getting a lot of people asking about them. I had recently deleted my old youtube channel and uploaded them to my new one. I am also going to be doing a more in depth video or 2 on the workings and designing of the Dragon, I will be sure to post them as soon as I have done them. Thank you all again for the support in my first go at robotics. Jamie.

Here is the new video, hope you guys like it.

Great video and robot . Are you going to put the v4 on it

hahaha great interaction.video is very profectional made.

I LOVE it that is soooo cool It gives me LOTS of great ideas

Thank you everyone, I am glad you all like it. In answer to the question about using the V4, oh yes for sure, as soon as I can afford it I will be updating it to the new board.

Amazing! Very inspiring! I love dragons. You've done a great job with this build.

here some good looking dragons.

cartoon dragons

I think you should name him Puff.

or smokey

Hi there, I have just joined this community 5 minutes ago as I was so awestruck by this baby dragon. It is exactly what I am looking for for 2 projects. One is a shoulder dragon (google "wood baby" for what I am talking about) and the other is animated dogs and teddy bears (I make plush bears, dragons etc from scratch) for an animation I have written about my kidney failure/dialysis and transplant from the point of view of my two dogs...the dogs steal my script and take over the show........so...

I would like to ask which components of Ezrobot you used for the dragon and reply a resounding "YES PLEASE" to seeing a template of your beautiful draggie! as per the quote below.

"If you guys really want some templates of this I would be more then happy to try and put that together. I am planning on putting a template section on my site and once I get that done I will add the dragon parts. Is it just the head or the wings people want?."

Any pointers or help in either direction from this community would help (I can start a new thread if that is better). I am in Australia so I would obviously need to source the parts on line etc.

Thanks heaps! Boofy

I have re-posted about the dog/teddy bear question in this post,

"dog and animal robots"

I apologise if I asked in the wrong section and had no intention of hijacking your post. I was excited by your creation and had a temporary circuit malfunction in my poor little brain eek

Boofy

Jamie! I was browsing through the EZ-Robot forum and came across your BB-8, then this amazing dragon!

Did you ever release templates?

I won't bore the Community with off-topic stuff (drop me an email), but it looks like your foam skills have served you well!

Tex

Hi, no I ever did release templates. Most of what I ended up doing was freehand the templates as I needed them. However if anyone is needing any help I am more than willing to offer any advice I can. I am also going to be building a new dragon for display at ThunderCon (convention in ThunderBay Ontario) just as soon as I can get the funds together to buy a new EZB kit.

Hello, firstly you do amazing work, I have an idea I want to make real, your dragon has everything I'm looking for. Unfortunately I have no clue where to start or where to buy anything can you please help this would make the perfect project to get my son into the tech world... Thanks in advance

Hi, the main white material used for the dragon is just kitchen garbage bins. All the other stuff like rods and things I sourced from ebay and other site. What exactly is it you are looking for. I honestly just used google and this website and did a lot of searching.

Thank that was a big help now I have a better idea of the materials I can use. I want a interactive dragon like yours but I want it to walk and fly, I also want the wings to tuck in.I can't find anything on the wings at all...