Animatronic Face of Ed from Good Burger

Project Description:

This project is inspired from Disney’s Hall of Presidents attraction. The animatronic face built during this project is based on one of the main characters, Ed, from the movie Good Burger (1997). The animatronic face is powered by the Arduino platform and has two forms of interaction: object tracking and mouth syncing with conversational integration. The face uses a dual ultrasonic sensor setup to track objects in front of it and move the eyes accordingly to maintain eye contact. The face also utilizes a microphone as a threshold sensor to listen for a person’s interaction; once the threshold is reached the animatronic plays a sound and the mouth moves with a rudimentary mouth sync. This was a partner project and my role in the project was developing the mechanism, electronic wiring and code for the eyes and eye tracking system. The animatronic face was showcased at a project demonstration within the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago. Along with the final working prototype of the animatronic face, the final deliverable included an instructable that can be found here, detailing a step-by-step explanation of the animatronic face construction.