Audio-Animatronic Tiki?

Just received one of those resin-based Disney knockoffs (God of Three Pleasures) from Design Toscano.

When compared to my hand-carved, solid wood creations from Gecko and Wayne Coombs, this hollowed-out, machine-made creature seems to suffer from a serious lack of mana. This got me to thinking how I could empower this Tiki which is seemingly devoid of elemental force.

How about Audio-Animatronics? Anyone have some good ideas on how to make this hollow beast come to life? I'm thinking laser-light eyes, dry ice, sounds, etc.

[ Edited by: SoBeTiki on 2002-09-12 08:56 ]

I don't know as much about robotics as i'd like to, but when i was a kid, i'd take the servos out of little radio-controlled cars and try to make robots out of them (usually failing miserably).
i think that's basically how animatronics are made--with MANY servos and a computer controller to automate the whole operation.
control might be able to be automated via some sort of USB peripheral, so then you'd just need a servo for every movement:
mouth opening/closing
eyelids
eyes
you could do the wal-mart little radio control bit with $15 cars (likely to have 2 servos each - one for steering, one for throttle), or you could go to a hobby shop and buy a much better quality servo/radio setup. (much more expensive.)
...
i am such a nerd.

Hey, I was just talking to my wife about this!

If anyone figures out to create an Audio-Animatronic Tiki, I would love one of these!

I could use the mana and I need something to scare away all those crows that make a mess of my backyard!

Aloha,

Uncle Arty

It could be done.

One possibility is to build something with Lego Mindstorms robotics kits. They're programmable in the C language I think. Once you have the skeleton and functions down then you could drap it in Tiki goodness.

Another possibility is to take an existing animatron (Like a furby or a billy bass) and gut it and make an exterior to your Tiki satisfaction. Really, who hasn't wanted to gut a Billy Bass?! You enhance your mana just by doing that!

I've got an idea! How about weaiting until after a major holiday and getting, say, a large animated Halloween yard ornament, or a Santa Claus or Frosty the snowman,...you know, the ones that turn and wave, or whatever...the 4-5ft tall ones...andmaybe remove the outer coating/sostume and then using your creative wiles to recover it in some sort of tiki guise...or even hula girl? Grey....also check out terrorsyndicate.com for some great ideas as to how to make animated monsters...Good luck! Grey

I've seen a lot of Halloween props using a singing Christmas tree as a base for a talking skull. Looks very cool, probably have to try it.

Here's a link: http://hauntedhome.horrorseek.com/TalkSkul/talkskul.html

Wayne has a new tiki line, called "Pahu Tiki". They are not animatronic, but they are "hollow for special effects":

Smoke, Light, Sound, Water, Snorting Smoke

http://maitiki.com/pahu.html

drill some holes in the eyes and stick a red blinking LED light through it , only $2.99 for it at radio shack. I've done this on some of my tikis and they look awesome at night.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F003%5F012%5F000&product%5Fid=276%2D299

You could also spray paint them with a clear glow-in-the-dark spray-paint I just saw at Home Depot & put a black light under/over the tiki.

Or you could drill a hole through the mouth and hook up a water pump and hose for a small pond or even a half a wine barrel or something so he spits water.

Or plant a vine type flower at base and have the plant grow all around tiki for a jungle look.

Or, drill holes in nose or eyes, or mouth and close up back (if not already closed) and burn insence inside of them so they smoke out of their eyes nose mouth etc.

Or, use tiki as mold and pour cement into it for a rock look tiki. You can get cement dies at Home Depot for a dark Moai look. Keep pouring and sell!

Or, stick a pinwheel (feather) in its hat (head) and call it macaroni!

Or, stick bird seed with honey all over tiki so the birds go nuts and leave authentic skizzle all over your nice pollished $60 tiki

Or, drill hole and stick bamboo tiki torch coming out of hands

Or, drill head out and put potted fern in so you'll have your own CHIA TIKI...cha cha chia!

Or, hook up a misting sprinkler through the nose and hook up to a hose, it'll water your tropical plants and look pist all in one shot.

Or, I'm tired can I be done now with this useless babble.

If anyone uses one of these crazy ideas could you email me a pic or even just a reg. email or your plan.
TiKi tOny

I beleive you can buy the animatronic heads (without skins) from some mail order place - my husband made some for his work a while back. I will be sure to ask him where he got them! Maybe pricey though...

The tiki guarding the entrance of the TikiTiki yokohama has eyes that move back and forth and a mouth that opens and closes... hes speaks in japanese though - the only thing we could figure out that he sais was 'hey, that's not the same girl you brought with you yesterday!'

If you could dig that up TikiFish that'd be aprreciated.

Also I have seen animatronics parts on some sites when looking for "haunted house supplies". Try that search on good old google.

You're in luck! Search animatronic on EBAY and you'll find a guy that has 7 CD-Roms for sale on how to make animatronic masks! Grey

Here's where to get animatronic heads - then you can put your own faces on them....

Go to http://www.robotstore.com/catalog/list.asp?cid=11 for animatronic heads, or just go to http://www.robotstore.com for lots of fun robot stuff!

Yo Tikitony, too late. Tried one already. You still in ventura? My hometown is SB and pops lives in oxnard. I'm up there all the time. Was just there this past weekend.

Hey chikiTiki, yup still here in Ventura, well I live in Camarillo with my parents until school starts next week in San Luis Obispo. But I come hom a lot to carve tikis in their/my backyard. Can't wait to see the volcano the 28th. What did you mean by "too late. Tried one already."?
-TiKi tOny

Tikitony, I'm just messin with you. I like the macaroni doodle song idea. See you at the bash.

TikiFish, great site! Thanks.