One of the main challenges of electronic animation is to create natural movements. You can use an actuator to build something for every possible degree of freedom, but if you can’t control it to function smoothly, it will still be disappointing. [Mr. Volt] I have developed enthusiasm for animatronics projects, but find that programming them is tedious and difficult to control manually with a keyboard or controller.As an alternative, he is building Waldo, an electronic puppet controller.
The Waldo rig is working with [Mr. Volt]The build Wheatley, The talkative spherical robot in the game “Portal 2”.The puppet stage consists of a series of rings, used for [Mr Volt]Each position of the hand is read by an angle sensor. This allows him to control the direction of Wheatley’s body and eyeballs, eyelids and handles. Both Wheatley and Waldo need some improvement, but we look forward to seeing the completed project.
The Portal game inspired several featured projects, including GLaDOS, turrets, and of course more Wheatly builds.