Cawing Raven

Always wanted a creepy little buddy? Well, now you can Frankenstein your own! Here's how to make a realistic cawing raven with a moving beak.

You will need...

• styrofoam blocks
• styrofoam sheets
• scissors
• hot glue
• spray adhesive
• Arduino Uno board
• small servo
• sharpie
• laser cutter
• styrofoam cutter
• Arduino wires (Male to Male)
• epoxy
• black dye
• 9-volt battery
• navy spray paint
• Lots of black feathers of different sizes
• 3D printer
• teddy bear speaker

Divide the thin pieces of foam into equal pieces about 9 inches in length and 5 inches across. Repeat this until you have a stack of rectangles 4.5 inches tall.

Take the rectangles into a well-ventilated area. Apply a thin layer of spray adhesive on a rectangle and attach another to it. Repeat this process until you make a tower using all your rectangles. Allow dry. Sketch out a basic bird shape using circles and ovals. Make sure you draw on three sides to ensure you cover all three dimensions of the bird. To double-check the measurements, ensure you are able to fit an Arduino Uno with room along each side at the widest points of your bird

Place the Y-shaped head with the thin, heated wire on the styrofoam cutter. Make sure to go to a well-ventilated area when cutting the styrofoam, as fumes will be released. Use the styrofoam cutter to cut out the basic shapes you drew. Begin to round the sides by cutting at diagonals along the lines. Use the cutter to saw the top 1.5 inches off the main body. Make sure it stays in one piece so we can re-attach it later.

Switch out the head on the styrofoam tool to a heated rod. Mark out the space around your Arduino board. Use the tool to melt out the area, making sure you can place the Arduino inside. Repeat this process with a 9-volt battery that you'll place under the Arduino. Mark another space along the chest to place the speaker. Carve it deep enough to have the speaker flush with the surrounding shape when placed fully into the body.

Chop one of the thick foam blocks in half and repeat the gluing process from step 2 to attach them. Draw a 3-inch circle and elongate it on one side to make the shape of the bird's head. Repeat the first part of step 3 to carve the head shape.

Mark out the area for the servo near the smallest part of the styrofoam head. Use the heated rod tool to carve out this space. Check to see that the servo fits. Make sure to include a hole going from the lower back of the servo hole through the base of the head to run the wires later. Set the head atop the 1.5 inches of the main body as a guide and continue the hole from the servo pocket. Make sure the servo wires can fit through the holes.

Place the 1.5 inches back on the top of the rest of the body. Take all the pieces into a well-ventilated area and spray paint the outsides a navy. Wait for it to dry completely.

Gather the Arduino, servo, three male-to-male wires, and a teddy bear message recorder.

Beak

For the beak, set up a basic servo format to the Arduino UNO. Use the servo sweep example for a pre-written code and how to set up the wiring. Use the link on line 7 for a tutorial.

/* Sweep

 by BARRAGAN <http://barraganstudio.com>

 This example code is in the public domain.

 modified 8 Nov 2013

 by Scott Fitzgerald

 https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/LibraryExamples/Sweep

*/

#include <Servo.h>

Servo myservo; // create servo object to control a servo

// twelve servo objects can be created on most boards

int pos = 0;  // variable to store the servo position

void setup() {

 myservo.attach(9); // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object

}

void loop() {

 for (pos = 0; pos <= 40; pos += 1) { // goes from 0 degrees to 40 degrees

  // in steps of 1 degree

  myservo.write(pos);       // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'

  delay(15);            // waits 15 ms for the servo to reach the position

 }

 for (pos = 40; pos >= 0; pos -= 1) { // goes from 40 degrees to 0 degrees

  myservo.write(pos);       // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'

  delay(15);            // waits 15 ms for the servo to reach the position

 }

}

Cawing

use the link below for a video of ravens cawing. Set the speaker to the record function and play the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiKSKO2s2Bs

Get 10 mL of epoxy and place it in a small cup. Follow your resin's instructions for mixing then add 3 drops of black ink or a black mica powder. Use a pipette to drop small (about 1 cm in diameter) droplets of resin onto a flat mold. Make a lot more than you will need so you can have your choice of eyes. Allow to dry for 24 hours.

Laser cut the wing design linked into chipboard. The wings should be about 10 inches long, or slightly longer than the body you cut.

Use the file from Thingiverse and format it into your 3D printing settings. Size it to be about 1 inch tall for the lower beak and 1.5 inches tall for the upper beak. Once printed, paint the beak black. Use a small dry brush and a little bit of brown paint to brush on unique details like beak scars and lowlights around the base and nostrils.

Place the servo into the servo hole and run the wires down the hole. Connect them to the proper wires attached to the servo board. Attach a battery to a battery clip and place the battery into the hole while plugging it into the Arduino. Lay the Arduino on top of the battery into its own hole with all the wires attached. Stick about 4 toothpicks upright around the remaining lip surrounding the Arduino. Push them most of the way in, then press the 1.5 inches we cut off, on top of the toothpicks to close up the body. Place one more toothpick halfway in the bottom of the head and sink that into the main body. Insert the speaker into the speaker hole, with the button side facing out.

Use hot glue to stick a variety of feathers to the body. Look at the assortment provided and look at lots of reference images to see how the arrangement and feather types shift along the body. Cut the bottom of the quill off the feathers and place a small dot of hot glue onto the bottom of the feather. Start layering the feathers from the back of the body and move toward the front. Make sure to also cover the wings. You can also cover parts of the back of the wing (towards the tips) so that the overhang looks more realistic.

Hot glue the bottom beak directly onto the feathers and the top one onto the outside of the servo's arm. Place a small dot of hot glue on two eyes that you picked out from the ones you made. Hot glue the wings on each side.

Press the button and listen to it caw as the servo moves the beak!

Click the link for the finished videos (they wouldn't integrate into the webpage)!