Emma Woods

This project aimed to create a wooden mechanical head that would emote through facial expressions. In order to simulate human emotions, my teammates and I used arduino to animate the eyes, eyelids, eyebrows, and mouth of the 1.5 foot head. The pieces of this head were designed on Fusion 360 and laser cut using plywood. 

 
emma woods info.png
 
head up top.png
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PROJECT FOCUS

This project aimed to use rapid prototyping methods to build an aesthetically pleasing wooden head that can emote.

 
 
 

RESEARCH & INSPIRATION

Other robotic heads inspired our design, although we focused on using sustainable materials.

 
 

Face Forward

face forward.png

Kismet

kismet.png

Makoi

maki.png
 
 
 

PROTOTYPING PROCESS

The prototype progressed through several iterations before the final laser-cut plywood version with moving eyes, eyebrows, and mouth.

 
 
prototype progress half.png
 
 

CONCLUSION

Our final prototype unfortunately fell into the uncanny valley, likely due to the design of the mouth.

In the future, we would like to improve the appearance and functionality of the core facial features. We also discussed the possibility of implementing  software that can detect and mimic the facial features of a person standing in front of the face in order to enhance the interactivity of the project.