Servos are used to make head look more natural and alive.
I group my servos into those groups:
- Ears (2)
- Eyebrows (2)
- Eyelids (2)
- Lips / Mouth (3)
Servo Types
There are multiple types of servos.We can group them by material of their gears - plastic or metal. But we do not want to use plastic because metal servos are not much more expensive.
Another grouping is by its size - pico, micro, mid and standard. There are also bigger sizes but not for our use.
We can also group it by torque power but we do not need to care about that (because we need to fit it and torque power will be enough to move some fur).
Servo Groups
For all the groups, we will use (metal) micro servos because of space to fit it in (maybe with exception of ears but it will need to be tested).Ears
Ears are being bend by its servos.It is done by pulling a fishing line through pulley and connected to top of the ear. To band back, it only need to release the pulling power and it should bend back (if not, I can add a spring to back side of the ear).
Eyebrows
Eyebrows are moved by magnets around its axis (on one side magnet and fixed point on the other).It is done by
longarm (also called
Servo horn) connected to servo with magnet attached on its end pulling the magnet in eyebrows with it.
Eyelids
I was watching Ez Wolf's Animatronic Werewolf Head where he mentioned that he never got his eyes working. And I took it as a challenge.He did them as two separated eyelids but I want to use only one (which will also minimize used space in the head).
I want to make them same way as are lips - edge of fur with latex / silicon on it (the edge) connected to bend wire (hiding it). It will pull fur over the eye. Probably not fully because I do not want any (visible) folds when eyes are open.
The folding may be solved by pulling the fur behind the eye (on another wire with a spring) but I do not know if the effect will be good.
Lips
Lips are moved up/down by servos.Both types of lips are made by servos rotating curved wire connected to fur (probably with latex / silicon edge).