REDHEAD

"All but abandoned by his creator, RedHead sat unfinished in a box for years before finally being dusted off and woken up. Perhaps someday he'll even have his own body..."

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RedHead completes my trio of color-themed sci-fi pieces (see YellowJacket and BlueScreen for the others). The two plastic domes that make the sides of the head were scavenged from an old kid's toy, which swivel on a set of aluminum ring bearings. The eyes were made from lenses of two old microscopes, with 3D printed housings that hold the LEDs. Virtually every other piece of this build was modeled from scratch in Fusion 360 and 3D printed in PLA. These pieces were then carefully sanded, filled, primed, and painted to achieve the desired effect of chipped over metal.

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The swivel movement is achieved with two servos that move a ring gear on either side, which each turn a hub. The plastic domes are attached to this hub with magnets, allowing easy removal for maintenance and troubleshooting. There is an additional micro servo on each eye, controlling a "sidebrow" for added expression.

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The movements were all coded onto an Arduino, and buttons control which of 4 animations will be played. These are all housed in a wired control box kept out of sight for filming. At some point I intend to build a neck and shoulders for him to sit on, with buttons integrated into the base to make him more interactive.