animatronic rabbit puppet

princess margaret

I visited the rabbit that the puppet was based off. Her name is Princess Margaret and she is very sweet. I made sure to take reference images from all angles.

taxidermy base + building soft sculpture

I started by using a bandsaw to cut the head off the taxidermy base to allow for movement and a place to set the stepper motor. To create the maximum amount of realism, I hand-sewed each muscle onto the base and attached them with various adhesives. I then painted the entire base once it was finished in case any showed through the fur.

fur application

AA4A3698-FE4E-44B1-B833-4FD017B12F59.MP4

manual puppetry + animatronic components

IMG_2926.MOV

IMG_6294.MOV

I created this piece with the intent that it would be able to be traditionally puppeteered or pre-programmed using a stepper motor and an Arduino Uno. For the film, we stuck with manual puppetry to mitigate technical error, but for the end of semester open studios I displayed the animatronic capabilities.

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