Ultron 3D Printed Puppet Concept

Hey all!

This Instructable is more of a prototype/inspiration for future projects than something to actually make. It is a 3d model for an Ultron inspired robot. (Not the full virbranium flying Ultron, but the one from where we first meet him as an all broken up Iron Legion robot). Just two arms and a head. My inspiration for this project came from two previous projects I did (a simple robotic hand, and a fiberglass pseudo-Iron Man helmet, pictures included). I recently got a 3D printer and was hoping on taking my projects to a new "dimension" so-to-speak.

I created the parts in Solidworks, however, I do not feel they are good enough yet to print. For now I just wanted to share my idea, and hopefully update it in the future when I become a bit more fluent in Solidworks. If anyone would like, just comment and I'll add the files, but you are probably better off starting from scratch.

In this Instructable, I am going to go through my though process and hopefully inspire some other great projects!

So essentially I created a body to mount three micro servos to. Two arms and one neck. The head is a pan/tilt setup, and for the arms I created a shoulder to rotate front and back, up and down, then an upper arm/elbow to two twist the hand and bend at the elbow for extra movement. I was hoping to create something that concealed the servos better and looked more like arms, but I am not up to that level yet. I was also tempted to use some pre-made files, like http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34829 from thingiverse and just stick 'em on sideways, but there would be no learning process in that.

In terms of what the arms and head actually are... I made the pieces by creating a housing for the servo then making a peg stick out on the other end to help alleviate some of the weight. I then created a bracket which I would hook on the the peg, and screw to the servo lever/horn. On that bracket I attacked another housing, then repeated the process. At the end of the hands I was hoping to create something like I did with my first project where the servos would pull strings which would then bend the finger. I thought of using 3d printed parts like http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:92937 but figured using the plastic cable organizers would be lighter.

For the head I followed this YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMP93x4XFeg. It isn't the most accurate or pleasing design, but it gets the job done. Creating the head basically requires the signature front helmet look, and then some "tears" to give it an Ultron feel. A quick search on Google and you'll see that the top of his head is missing, so that is why I left it out. And to create the rips in the head I spit-balled it and simply cut away little bits and pieces. The colors are just for looks, but I would probably print this in a gray/blue combination to follow suit with the movie, and for the fact that its not actually Iron Man himself. Once printed I would love to add some lights to it, to give it a cooler effects.

I plan on keeping it simple using an arduino and having it run through some predetermined script. (Tilt head this way, raise an arm, swing other arm, etc.). Or for more control some joysticks and different sensors would be nice the make it more interactive.

For improvements, I would fix up the arms aesthetically, maybe taking some inspiration from the Poppy Robot (https://www.poppy-project.org/), and also more importantly making sure the servos fit properly and don't completely break. I would also venture into maybe even using a raspberry pi to making it more internet connected. It would be awesome to set it up with Jasper, https://jasperproject.github.io/, and have it move when it responds to you.

That is pretty much it, not very complex, and light years from finished, but I wanted to share, get some helpful feedback, and hopefully inspire other great projects!