Servo guide? ideas for breathing mechanism?

First: I was wondering if there was an online or paper version of some sort of servo guide for animatronics? Such as "X servo is ideal for blinking mechanisms" or "you'll need X power performance for every foot of cable"

 Secound: If anyone knew any ideas for a complex breaking system for say a dog, when with each inhale and exhale the body expands starting in the chest moving to the stomich lifting and moving the whole body slightly. I can't seem to find any ideas online for even a simple breaking mech. 

Comments

  • HI Blake,

    There is really no standard for servos, as you'll pick each servo based on your application.  The size, speed, and power of each servo should be specific to your application to get the best result and spend the least amount of money.  (no point buying overpowered servos for simple tasks)

    There are many ways to achieve a breathing effect.  The simplest is just to have an air bladder inside the character that is manually inflated/deflated for breathing.

    To use servos, you could use a scissor style linkage to spread hinged ribcage shells in and out.  You could also use a parallel gear rack linkage at the center of hinged ribcage shells.  (see linkage example below)

    https://www.servocity.com/html/785_dual_perpendicular_gear_ra.html#.Vlu9wd-rTMU

    The mech/servo you go with will depend on how fast you want the breathing to be, how much travel you want on the ribcage as it expands, and how much force is needed to move the structure, skin, etc. 

    Another option would be to use one servo for each half of the ribcage, and have them both powered by the same channel (possibly mirrored).

    You can expand on this by incorporating a similar mechanism in the stomach that works in the opposite direction, so the stomach goes in as the chest goes out.  But I would be careful about adding too much complexity if you are just starting out.

    You can also use a 3rd mech to lengthen and contract the spine a bit during breathing to get a bit of head/neck/shoulder movement with each breath.  But again that is making things pretty complicated.

    /Chris
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