Sindy Skinless and the Decomposers

DESCRIPTION. Please meet Sindy Skinless and the decomposers. Billed as a quartet, but the group actually has 5 heads. This "skeleton crew" is programmed to perform parody songs of old standards, as well as many 50’s and 60’s rockabilly songs, and even some more current tunes now and again. We write original parody lyrics for each song we take on and twist all the tunes to be about Halloween, skeletons, or just something creepy or scary in general. Then we sing all the new lyrics, and sometimes create new music tracks for the production. The group banters among themselves before and after each song, and sometimes within the song itself. Although they are animated skeletons, they rely mostly on comedy and are completely appropriate for all ages. Some of the jokes and parody lines go over the heads of the youngest children, but are a lot of fun for their parents. Each year at Halloween time, we go on tour locally to different Halloween-themed venues in the area. We have performed at the Haunted Forest in Williston, VT, The Wilson Castle in Rutland, VT, The Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, VT, and The Haunted trail in Quechee, VT, put on by the Chamber of Commerce. We have also provided entertainment for Murder Mystery parties, and other Halloween events around town. You can keep up with our activities on our facebook page. Please ‘like’ us while you are there. We do produce a video for every song we create. There are now dozens of videos to see. Some are filmed live at locations during events, and others are produced like small movies filmed in front of a green screen and then placed in great locations for the song. You can easily find them on YouTube by searching for “Sindy Skinless” or by this direct link.

MECHANICS. There are close to 50 servos in the group all together, along with 7 controllable LED spotlights for stage lighting, and a sound system comprised of two large powered speakers on stands. Each skeleton has 6 servos in the head controlling 3 axis motion of the head, two axis eye movements, and the movement of the jaw. The extra head has the jaw movement and eye movement and a special high torque linear servo that raises the arms of the skeleton that holds it. All other skeletons have 6 additional servos which control their arm movements.

ELECTRONICS. We purchased all HiTec servos from ServoCity. The LED spotlights were found from various places on eBay, and are programmed to fade in, change color, and in some instances, change into strobe lights. We use a DMX system to control all the servos and lights and, of course, VSA to control everything. Using DMX has made the wiring of the system a simple task. DMX controller cards are available from many sources. Mine were purchased here. A third party software that we find very useful is VirtualHaunt by MonkeyBasic. It allows us to do the programming without having to set the whole band up each time. A big time-saver!

CONTACT.bob@sindyskinless.com

Robot Stones

DESCRIPTION.  The ‘Robot Stones’ are 11 inch figures fashioned after a famous rock band. All figures have articulated mouths, necks, and torsos with a few appropriate additions to each figure. A colored light show also goes with the song’s tempo.

PERFORMANCE. Mick, the lead singer, stomps his left foot to the music and sings lead on the song. Charlie, the drummer, has 4 additional features; snare/hand/stick, Hi Hat/hand/stick, Bass pedal/foot and Hi Hat pedal/foot. Ron sings backup and strums/picks his guitar. Keith picks his guitar and is generally very animated, along with Mick. 10 colored lights go with the beat.

MECHANICS. Each figure’s head was built like a ventriloquist dummy, with the mouths hinged and connected to a servo with music wire. In order to get the speed on the mouths, the servo horn was lengthened to 3” and each servo only travels a few degrees. The drums were actually driven by servos connected to Charlie's feet, so it looks like he is really playing. All figures move their torsos, head (neck), and mouths. The secret to getting all this up from the bottom was telescopic brass tubing with servo horns connected to each. The mouth wires run up the center of the inside tubing. Lighting is done with parallel hi-bright LEDs arranged into copper plumbing connectors. Guitars and hands are double-pinned to get both hand/strum and guitar action.

ELECTRONICS. SSC-32 running at 115 kbps. Figures use full servo setting; lights use relay setting. All servos (16 in all) are HITEC HS325HB. Power supply is 5VDC@3A and12VDC@1A. Music is ported thru a 3 watt amplifier with small computer speaker remounted in a ‘road case’. VSA runs from COM1.

SPECIAL TECHNIQUES. Each head was sculpted by hand from polymer clay, then hardened in the oven. Of special note: Use hard clay for the heads, but the ‘rubberized’ clay for the hands. I broke several hands when the figures wildly play their guitars! Mouths had to be made separately of hard clay, then hinged/fit to the faces. To be sure of durability, I used brass for their ‘tongues’ and connected it to the music wire with a loop. Guitars were also made of polymer clay (and real guitar strings), then painted.

TIME. About 100 if videos and documentation are included.

CONTACT. welwell@zbzoom.net

WILLETTFX

DESCRIPTION.  See the creator's websites and videos for details:

http://www.youtube.com/willettfx

Tigger

DESCRIPTION.  Gutted, zippered, and mechanized, a stuffed Tigger was slowly brought to life. Driven by nine custom-servos, Tigger has two fully functional arms (shoulder, elbow, and wrist) and a completely automated head (yes, no, and mouth).

PERFORMANCE. Tigger does it all.  From the hit SNL "Roxbury Brothers" sketch to Tigger's "TTFN" farewell, Tigger is quite the showman.  With VSA by his side, Tigger performs "I'm Tigger," "TTFN", the "Roxbury Brothers" sketch from SNL, a scene from Jackie Chan's "Rush Hour," and a rendition of Tigger's "Private Ear."

MECHANICS.  Tigger's skeleton is a combination of aluminum and wood rods.  Motion is primarily transferred via push-rods and pin hinges.   Arm motion is driven by six servos mounted beneath Tigger.  Head motion is controlled by three internal servos.

ELECTRONICS. Tigger is controlled by a custom PIC16C74A controller board.  This board is responsible for switching power to the MiniSSCs and the servos (allowing power to be software switched).  It also handles the A/D conversion for the electronic servo feedback system.  This board listens to the MiniSSC 9600bps serial line for its commands.  An AT power supply provides all power.

SPECIAL HARDWARE.  Tigger's primary powerhouse is a PWM customized servo.  These customized servos provide electronic feedback as to their true position, allowing Tigger's position to be passively determined.

SPECIAL SOFTWARE.  A custom build of VSA is used to control Tigger.  This build has added features including support for the electronic feedback system, a Phonetic Analysis package to ease lip-sync, and a "State of Health" dialog to provide power control.  Contact Brookshire Software for more information about using these features in your project.

CONTACT.  Contact the author for questions regarding this project.

Valter

DESCRIPTION.  Valter is 4.5 feet tall with a welded steel frame and ball bearings; the non-moving parts are all made of aluminum and nylon. The 13 axes of movement include: eye brows, lower and upper lips, jaw, head yes and no,right shoulder, elbow and a wrist-fingers combo, and right and left chair pivots. The costume and wig are custom-made to withstand the everyday wear and tear and to fit the mechanical movements. Valter is covered with silicone skin over fiberglass cores.

PERFORMANCE. The show itself consists of a four language (French, English, German, and Japanese) multimedia extravaganza designed to teach foreign tourists how Canada was formed (discovery, provinces, etc.).  The entire presentation lasts about ten minutes and includes curtains, 24 lights, two separation projectors, an LED message board, three TV monitors, a projection screen and, of course, the 13 axis pneumatic puppet, Valter!
VSA was used to perfectly control and synchronize the puppet in the French version, try to imagine the Japanese translation!

ELECTRONICS.  Valter's interface electronics are something else!  Valter absolutely needed to use VSA, but he also needed ON/OFF valves.  As a result, the signals had to be translated: VSA controls two MiniSSCs which provide PWM signals.  Two Basic Stamps (BS-2s) then decode the PWM and provide digital output (1's and 0's) to a 16 channel / 24VDC relay card.  The relays activate valves and are used to trigger keyboard taps to pause/load or play the VSA file.

CONTACT.  Contact the author for questions regarding this project.

Jiminy

DESCRIPTION.  Animatronic Jiminy Cricket

PERFORMANCE. A 15-minute performance for a wedding reception -- and VSA controls it all.  Opens with a servo controlled lighting effect to music on a five foot Cinderella's Castle made out of rock candy.  A fiber optic Tinker Bell effect is then triggered, traveling from the Castle to a giant wedding gift box. The gift box opens, Jiminy is elevated out, sings "When You Wish Upon a Star," and then proceeds to introduce the wedding party.  The wedding guests will be dancing a Waltz under an atrium surrounded by balloons which, upon completion of the Waltz, will be triggered to pop in sequence.  Jiminy also is equipped with cheek baffles, allowing him to blow noise makers at birthday performances.

MECHANICS.  Jiminy is a steel frame and hinged for movement:

1. Head up/down
2. Head turn left/right
3. Eyes left/right
4. Waist turn left/right
5. Waist bend up/down
6. Left & Right arm up/down
7. Left & Right arm in/out
8. Left & Right elbow bend
9. Right wrist twist
10. Mouth top up/down
11. Mouth bottom up/down
12. Program Sequences (Castle lighting, Tinker Bell lighting, box, etc.)
13. Open/close Jiminy up/down
14. Tinker Bell movements

All electronics are housed in the Jiminy gift box.

ELECTRONICS.  Two MiniSSC II controllers; servo 15 rotates around 8 momentary switches triggering SCR controlled relays to match all effects to the music -- all through the VSA Software.

SPECIAL HARDWARE.  The Jiminy system is 95% built from old mechanical and electronic parts (old copier machines, answering machines, DC car motors, camera parts, old movie projector parts).  The 2700 meters of fiber optic cable and servos were all purchased online.  GM Foam Latex, clay, and plaster molds were used for Jiminy's face.

SPECIAL SOFTWARE.  Cool Edit 2000 for music and voice mixing and Brookshire Software's VSA.

MUST HAVE ITEMS.  A dremel drill and VSA program! (seriously)

CONTACT.  Contact the author for questions regarding this project.

ALBERT

DESCRIPTION.  Artificially InteLligent BipEd RoboT

PERFORMANCE. ALBERT has just learned to walk, started to climb up small steps, and has a karate kick.  ALBERT may just be a set of legs, but he also plays a mean game of soccer.

MECHANICS & ELECTRONICS.  ALBERT has 12 standard servos for articulation.  He uses the Pololu 16 servo controller, which has worked perfectly for this project. Eventually ALBERT will get a Basic Stamp, an accelerometer, and a battery pack so he can walk on his own.  At the moment, ALBERT stands 9" tall and 6" wide (stocky little thing) and he weighs 1 lb. 6 oz.

SPECIAL HARDWARE.  ALBERT is entirely custom built, using off the shelf servos and controllers. 

SPECIAL SOFTWARE.  ALBERT is design number seven.  Thanks to VSA, six other designs were easily tested with trial-and-error.  VSA definitely made it very easy to design an idea and instantly known whether or not the designs were going to work.

CONTACT.  Contact the author for questions regarding this project.

The Terrible Trio

DESCRIPTION.  The Terrible Trio and a huge suite of additional animatronic Halloween products were created by Fox Productions.  The original Ghost Host, Wilfred, was accompanied by Albert and Horace in 2003, driven with VSA.

My Bedbugs

DESCRIPTION.  Welcome to Bugville!  It's time to party with the Bedbugs!  Have you ever wanted to take an adventure in your very own room?  Now you can with Gooby, Toofy, and Woozy.  The producers use VSA to pre-script the motions for the eyes and mount of these costumed characters.

CONTACT.  My Bedbugs can be seen on channel 56 (WTVS), Detroit's public television channel.