An Overview Of The Animatronic Mouths
The two animatronic mouths presented in this tutorial were designed and implemented with the goal of creating an illusion that the face or robot attached to it was actually speaking like a human. While we all know it's just a silly robot, the illusion is set and people are more likely to approach something that speaks, moves and acts in a familiar way. After all, creating the illusion of mouth movement similar to that of a human's was the main goal here.
What To Do Now
There is ample opportunity to improve this design in many ways. The first few that come to mind are a better platform that doesn't stick out around the face's cheeks. The LCD mouth could be converted to a spectrographic display that moved dynamically with speech. The articulated mouth could have more points of articulation or even an attempt at lips, which are very difficult to create. Find one area you wish to improve and get started building!
Conclusion
The two animatronic mouths presented in this tutorial probably led a lot of readers into information over load, however I felt it was important to include two options for everyone. The LCD mouth is great for anyone just getting started as medium difficulty programming is used, while the articulated servo mouth's software is better for more advanced hobbyists. Either way you choose to go there is a great deal of fun to be had, I tried my best to show that in the videos for this tutorial.
If you have any further questions, I implore you...don't be shy, take a look at the forums or ask a question there. I check them out regularly and love getting comments & questions.
The two animatronic mouths presented in this tutorial were designed and implemented with the goal of creating an illusion that the face or robot attached to it was actually speaking like a human. While we all know it's just a silly robot, the illusion is set and people are more likely to approach something that speaks, moves and acts in a familiar way. After all, creating the illusion of mouth movement similar to that of a human's was the main goal here.
What To Do Now
There is ample opportunity to improve this design in many ways. The first few that come to mind are a better platform that doesn't stick out around the face's cheeks. The LCD mouth could be converted to a spectrographic display that moved dynamically with speech. The articulated mouth could have more points of articulation or even an attempt at lips, which are very difficult to create. Find one area you wish to improve and get started building!
Conclusion
The two animatronic mouths presented in this tutorial probably led a lot of readers into information over load, however I felt it was important to include two options for everyone. The LCD mouth is great for anyone just getting started as medium difficulty programming is used, while the articulated servo mouth's software is better for more advanced hobbyists. Either way you choose to go there is a great deal of fun to be had, I tried my best to show that in the videos for this tutorial.
If you have any further questions, I implore you...don't be shy, take a look at the forums or ask a question there. I check them out regularly and love getting comments & questions.