CONCEPT

We were tasked by our client to design a life-size horror animatronic with full upper body articulation and the ability to move around in space, and be controlled remotely. The life size robot that took inspiration from Jason, the villain from “Friday the 13th”. We were responsible for the underlying structure, electronics, and motors while our client developed the look wrapped around the robot.

CHALLENGES

• The robot was fully engineered and built in 4 weeks

• Purchased components had to be off-the-shelf hobby items to accommodate the tight schedule, and we were constantly checking stock as we went through changes

• All the welding for the frame/supports was self-fixtured, and structure components were designed to be cut on a CNC router

• The machete-side arm used a pair of 4-bar linkages to get a realistic swing motion with only one motor for the elbow/wrist located at the shoulder