Of the 43 muscles that comprise the human face, only a few are actually important to speaking. And yet replicating the movements of the mouth by mechanical means always seems to end up only partly convincing. Servos and linkages can only approximate the complex motions the lips, cheeks, jaw, and tongue are capable of. Still, there are animatronics out there that make a good go at the job, of which this somewhat creepy mechanical mouth is a fine example.
Why exactly [Will Cogley] felt the need to build a mechanical maw with terrifying and fairly realistic fangs is anyone’s guess. Recalling his lifelike disembodied animatronic heart build, it just seems like he pursues these builds for the challenge of it all. But if you thought the linkages of the heart were complex, wait till you see what’s needed to make this mouth move realistically. [Will] has stuffed this pie hole with nine servos, all working together to move the jaw up and down, push and pull the corners of the mouth, raise and lower the lips, and bounce the tongue around.
It all seems very complex, but [Will] explains that he actually simplified the mechanical design to concentrate more on the software side, which is a text-to-speech movement translator. Text input is translated to phonemes, each of which corresponds to a mouth shape that the servos can create. It’s pretty realistic although somewhat disturbing, especially when the mouth is placed in an otherwise cuddly stuffed bear that serenades you from the nightstand; check out the second video below for that.
[Will] has been doing a bang-up job on animatronics lately, from 3D-printed eyeballs to dexterous mechatronic hands. We’re looking forward to whatever he comes up with next — we think.
Not sure how I’d feel having the “Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog” sitting by my bed. (Run away! Run away!)
Needs to keep a Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch nearby!
Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three.
No, not creepy at all. :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSuNvG0nNp0
“especially when the mouth is placed in an otherwise cuddly stuffed bear” – ehrm… that would be called a “rabbit”.
That is the most hilariously creepy thing I’ve ever seen. He really needs to use that as a Halloween prop. Putting a bunch of these in a little child’s room in a haunted house would be an awesome way to freak people out.
That rabbit looks like is should be chasing Sigourney Weaver!
Dang, how did you lipread “I am the keymaster” off that? I didn’t think it was that accurate. ;-)
I wonder how you would go using some form of AI process to take video of people speaking the phonemes, then using those and a video camera on the animatronic to find the optimal movements of the servo to produce the same mouth movements.
I wish there was a video that let us hear the actual noise the servos are making.. finding quiet servos is not that easy.
So cool!
I see this as a giant leap forward for Sex bots. (without the fangs)
(Actual speech not necessary, or even wanted)