More animatronics

Hello folks!

In this post I show one of my latest projects, an electronic autonomous board for playing-back animatronics shows. This board can be used along with Brookshire Software’s Visual Automation Studio (VSA) and can store up to three shows, each one with ten channels (eight servos and two relays).

This project was done to quickly answer a need of customer Oficina de Artes e Decorações and due to the tight schedule, we decided for a solution that allied low-cost with a moderate flexibility. The result is an electronic board which can take a serial stream received from a host computer (running the VSA software) and store it into a serial 32Mbit SPI flash memory (a Macronix MX25L3206). The board also includes an MP3 serial module for playing audio tracks assigned for each show (the audio files are stored into a microSD card which is plugged into the MP3 module).

The SSCR (Serial Servo Controller and Recorder) board is shown below and was designed using an NXP Coldfire v1 32-bit microcontroller (MCF51JM128). This device was chosen due to the large code-base I already had written for the Freescale (now NXP) platform. Besides, the MCF51JM128 also includes an USB port allowing the implementation of a dual communication channel (asynchronous serial and a USB CDC which creates a virtual COM port on the host). The USB stack was not implemented on the first phase but can be implemented if the need arises.

sscr

Figure 1 – SSCR board

The board includes 8 5V servo outputs (Futaba compatible) and 8 12V servo outputs (a project I designed a long time ago for the same customer). Along with the servos, there are two relay outputs which can control external loads.

There are three operating modes:

  • SSC mode: the board operates as a miniSSC board with selectable addresses (0 up to 100);
  • recording mode: the board can store a show into its flash memory, the servos/relays are updated along with the show recording;
  • player mode: the board can playback a previously stored show.

There are also three status LEDs for indicating board operation: one LED for recording, another for playback and one for host communication.

 

During the final development stage some features were added and improved board’s flexibility:

  • stand-by soundtrack: along with the show soundtracks, it is possible to include a fourth sound file which is played after an inactivity time. The software includes fade-in and fade-out effects an automatically suspend the soundtrack when a show is started;
  • low-power mode: when no show is playing for more than a minute, the servos are automatically powered-down to reduce power consumption and avoid damaging the servo’s mechanisms;
  • show priority: it is possible to set a show to interrupt another show that is already playing.

Below we have a picture of a customer’s puppet, during the board’s prototype testing phase.

 

sscr_noel
Figure 2 – a puppet with the SSCR board inside

This project was quickly designed (less than three months, working part-time, from conception to the delivery of the first completely working prototype) and it is always a pleasure to see your work being used on such amazing things as animatronics Christmas shows!

8 thoughts on “More animatronics

    1. Hello Erich!

      Unfortunately this board was designed for a customer, it is not for sale. What do you need? Maybe I can help you!

      Best regards,

      Fábio

      1. Hi Fabio,
        I am trying to make some skulls work with Visual Show Automation (already purchased the simple one), but the board I bough (SSC 32 RtRobot) is not compatible with the program. Could You help me to find a Compatible board because it is really frustrating trying to make animatronics and them figure out that you got the wrong board for the software you choose. I am from Sergipe, Brazil. My instagram is @wallychou1972, if you preffer we can also chat throught it.

  1. Hi Fabio,

    I am basically looking for a more effective alternative to the RAPU offered by Brookshire Software to playback VSA routines. Thanks!

    All the best,
    Erich

    1. I have plans to design a fully stand-alone VSA player capable of reading VSA files from a USB drive or SD card and playing them through serial ports or servo outputs!

      1. Any progress on that?
        RAPU is not available any more but VSA is a beautiful piece of software to program audio animatronics…I desperately want this standalone VSA player…is there anyway i can buy one or commission you to build one for me

  2. Hi Fabio,
    I am trying to make some skulls work with Visual Show Automation (already purchased the simple one), but the board I bough (SSC 32 RtRobot) is not compatible with the program. Could You help me to find a Compatible board because it is really frustrating trying to make animatronics and them figure out that you got the wrong board for the software you choose. I am from Sergipe, Brazil. My instagram is @wallychou1972, if you preffer we can also chat throught it.

  3. Any progress on that?
    RAPU is not available any more but VSA is a beautiful piece of software to program audio animatronics…I desperately want this standalone VSA player…is there anyway i can buy one or commission you to build one for me

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