Thread: My Newest Speaking Greeter

Tweet

I built this greeter so that he can be used with either the skull and a pair of skeleton hands or with the skull skin and the regular hands. It also has the joints from Spider Hill Prop Works for the shoulders and elbows so the position can be adjusted. I'll need to adjust the jaw closure point if it's to be used with the skin this year as the tension pulls the jaw closed a bit more than without it.

I like it, great movement and a good alternative to a 3 axis skull.
Dude has broad shoulders though.

Looks awesome! Really great tracking on the jaw - did you use a beep track, or is it tracking the actual voice track?

Great job! I really like how you made the head move side to side it looks great and better yet looks dependable, I have 3 2 axis talking buckys using the Picoboo boxes, may have to update them with head movement.
If the deer motor quits try the auto air vent motor that everybody uses its difficult to kill off, Ive had 3 or 4 deer motors drop out and replaced them with the auto air vent motors. no problems since.

Thanks for the kind comments.
Doctor Grim, the shoulders are bigger but that's what she wanted. I passed on several suits at the thrift store that were too small. I build the hips and shoulders to fit the suit.
hedg12, I used Audacity to add the tone track. That's one reason I designed the Picaxe audio/servo driver to use the Tenda stereo player. Even if the audio track is speaking only, I think it's worth the extra time to add the tone track and get the jaw to respond better.
Rabbit, I do use the vent motors and love them. However, since they are getting harder to find and more expensive, I went with a deer motor I had on hand. Plus, I built this for a friend and the deer motors are easier to change out in the event of a failure.

Here's a video of the greeter completed. I don't know what the new owner will call him but I'm calling him Gene!