Tags:
🪵 Physical Fabrication
💻 Creative Coding
🦖 Character Design
🤖 Animatronics
Role: Lead Industrial Designer
Timeline: April-May 2025
Tools Used: Arduino, Wood/Metal Shop, 3D Printing, Laser Cutting
🎯 The Creative Brief
Many exhibits don’t take into consideration the challenges kids face in connecting with science.
1. Static Skeletons
Can feel lifeless, because kids see the shape, but not the motion or behavior.
2. Technical Barriers
Robotics and electronics often feel intimidating or "for experts only."
3. Fragile Displays
Museum pieces can't usually be touched or experimented with.
4. Complex Concepts
Paleontology and mechanics can be hard to translate into playful learning.
5. Limited Interactivity
Few opportunities to repair, build, or tinker with what's on display.
Goals
• Learn about paleontology in a hands-on, interactive way
• Experiment with motors, sensors, and Arduino programming
• Share discoveries with friends and family
• Engage with sustainable, DIY projects that feel achievable and inspiring
Frustrations
• Finds static exhibits boring and hard to connect with
• Limited access to advanced robotics or expensive tools
• Sometimes struggles to link textbook learning with real-world examples
• Projects at home can feel small-scale compared to museum experiences
🎨 Art Direction & Visual System
Design a playable, repairable animatronic emulating a 3D reconstruction of a dinosaur (Maip macrothorax) and leveraging four servo motors.
A quick lo-fi prototype using wire and wood parts cut with a bandsaw. This provided feedback as to where the servo motors would need to go and how it would all work.
A Blender 3D reconstruction of the dinosaur Maip macrothorax that I made for the project using accurate dimensions and posture.
🔨 Craft & Production
Manufactured a repeatable wood part-motor assembly.
Replicated the component for both rotating axes of both arms.
Added colors, textures, and implemented visual design/aesthetic.
✨ Final Designs
The 3 poses that I vibe coded for the Maip dinosaur animatronic in Arduino. I also added a “jaw quiver” feature so that it would appear like a realistic creature, taking inspiration from reference footage of birds, specifically herons and pelicans.
MAIP Animatronic Interaction: A tangible, tactile interface connecting human curiosity and tangible play. The animatronic's fabric and character design are directly inspired by biological form and function.
The culmination of a multi-disciplinary approach: translating a digital control pipeline into precise physical action. Complex systems made intuitive and engaging.
