KewlLab - Purchasing Parts for Animatronics & Robotics at FurShows

Velivian Fesothe February 20, 2023

Because of the low stock on raspberry pi 4s, until I can get some at a scalping price from eBay, I opted to pick up a pi pico board kit, guide, and robotics hat to run motors, etc. As my plan is to make 3D-printed animatronics for FurShows.

The first show being https://www.fruitytails.com I think these will be a good entry point into developing code, control systems, and the shows.

A little while after I'd orderd them I started to worry that by the time I came to need more there would be a long wait due to the chip shortage, The raspberry Pi's have been out of stock almost 3 years! This makes it really difficult to work on projects, as I don't want to wait years to move forward.

So I purchased another pico kit, four picos without headers, 1 pico with wifi, another robotcs hat, promo mug, rs232 hat, 1 motor, and some male header sets for Raspberry Pi Pico that will require me soldering them onto the pico boards, as the pico board with the pins were out of stock exactly as I feared.

I've also had my eye on picking up the automation board for use with a PICO; these are also in low stock. I'm thinking about using this for the 3D printed stage curtains, to open and close them as required. And maybe automate any other aspects of the stage like stage background unrolling (greenscreen) or painted backgrounds.

I think I can come up with a lot of little things that can be automated with this board that will enhance the quality of the stage.

Other than that, I've been working on 3D models for the robotics trolley and planning more to do with the shows. I still have a lot of work to do on the FurShows main website, but I hope to be finished in the next few months, and then I can focus on developing the 3D content.

Velivian Fesothe

Posted by Velivian Fesothe