Inspired by Disney's 1963 Enchanted Tiki Room, where modern animatronics got their start, this figure was designed from the ground up. The head, beak, and tongue were hand-sculpted in oil-based clay, molded in silicone, and cast in a durable, paintable polyurethane resin. The 2-DOF motion base and the neck and beak actuator assemblies were designed in Fusion 360 and 3D printed.
The biggest challenge was fitting an internal beak mechanism into the finished sculpt while keeping an accurate jaw pivot point, since the sculpt came before the mechanics.
For programming, I wanted fluid, natural motion and a way to preview the figure while building shows. Using inverse kinematics and a custom Arduino-based control board connected to Blender over serial, actuator positions stream live from the 3D scene. Finished animations, with their motion data and audio, export to an SD card so the figure plays back without a computer.