The Doll Forum

IA is the future, I personally believe that it will all take a few years before it finally comes to pass that it meets my expectations.
The products that are already available still show too many flaws and I find the money much too bad to spend on something that does not work properly.
I am also a tech freak myself but now I leave it to the real profession people to get it all well developed so that we also have something that we can enjoy when the end product meets the requirements and being marketed.

But I certainly understand that some hobbyists do not want to wait there and start working on it themselves, everyone is free to do that.

just my 2 cents .....

Well, I'm 56 and still virile, but no telling what 10 yrs away will be like. I need to enjoy my life and dolls now.
I've always said, 98% accurate low tech is better than 56% accurate high tech since I'm seeking a human replacant and not just a sexy doll. Probably my biggest complaint about most current AI is the monotone voices. I'd rather play scripted erotic audio performed by females ATM.

On the pixy camera, it can be connected directly to an Arduino board. There are examples out there. I was recommending to help ease the coding required for facial recognition. There are forums out there that list their Arduino projects that do facial recognition, mostly for drone following. That could be adapted for eye movement easily though.

rubherkitty wrote:Well, I'm 56 and still virile, but no telling what 10 yrs away will be like. I need to enjoy my life and dolls now.
I've always said, 98% accurate low tech is better than 56% accurate high tech since I'm seeking a human replacant and not just a sexy doll. Probably my biggest complaint about most current AI is the monotone voices. I'd rather play scripted erotic audio performed by females ATM.

As far as scripted playback, that is already doable. There are many methods to playback different sound files based on what input the Arduino is receiving. Generally, you could grab movie segments from a porn video, strip the file of the audio, then save the sound segments you want.

I do appreciate the info.

The Pixy is something I'll have to check into further. I usually just have my dolls eyes looking right at me so...
I really have no need for eyes or head to follow me around the room, etc. But eyes slowly, sexily blinking is something I would notice. Maybe just a servo that would roll the eyes up now & then would be fine for eye movement. I know they make micro linear servo's that are supposed to be quieter than traditional RC servo's.

RE audio. Micro controllers seem to have limited on board space. Most I have seen have like 5, 1 minute clip capacity. Found a 8 minute one. That might be OK for clips from the same voice that can play at random and still be relevant. Simple dialog and moaning. I prefer running a 20+ minute story line audio that covers foreplay to climax.
Now if a micro controller can house up to a 25min audio or receive audio via Bluetooth, and have the mouth sync to that, I would be very happy.

rubherkitty wrote:I do appreciate the info.

The Pixy is something I'll have to check into further. I usually just have my dolls eyes looking right at me so...
I really have no need for eyes or head to follow me around the room, etc. But eyes slowly, sexily blinking is something I would notice. Maybe just a servo that would roll the eyes up now & then would be fine for eye movement. I know they make micro linear servo's that are supposed to be quieter than traditional RC servo's.

RE audio. Micro controllers seem to have limited on board space. Most I have seen have like 5, 1 minute clip capacity. Found a 8 minute one. That might be OK for clips from the same voice that can play at random and still be relevant. Simple dialog and moaning. I prefer running a 20+ minute story line audio that covers foreplay to climax.
Now if a micro controller can house up to a 25min audio or receive audio via Bluetooth, and have the mouth sync to that, I would be very happy.

There are Arduino compatible boards that have SD and microSD card slots, and the libraries incorporated to retrieve files for playback. You can easily have +20min of playback for your wishes.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mic ... l?view=all

I usually go to adafruit and other sites like them for tutorials and instructions on how to incorporate new hardware. The amount of audio files is limited by the size SD card you buy.

Great!
Guess I was looking a prepackaged, all in one, audio controllers.

i do agree a tank filled with air moving body parts , i think their are already higher end robot dolls doing this already (none as love dolls ) . i also agree it would make it easy to run a compressor later fill the tank for any use instead of motors , servos etc.
all very interesting .

RE: Air.
Problem of using a tank is you can't fill them w/a common 120 PSI home compressor. Which I own 4 of from small portables to industrial floor models. These tanks are high pressure "3000 - 4500 PSI" and require a special compressor. I would have to drive 80m RT to have tanks filled.

timetraveler1 wrote:i do agree a tank filled with air moving body parts , i think their are already higher end robot dolls doing this already (none as love dolls ) . i also agree it would make it easy to run a compressor later fill the tank for any use instead of motors , servos etc.
all very interesting .

There's no need for a tank of anything to move the doll parts. Similar to priming your brake fluid and filling hydraulics for anything, the fluid in the tubing between the actuator and moving end stays where it is. You move fluid from one end to the other to generate motion. So long as you remove as much air as is possible, there aren't many losses in energy. Good components and materials reduce the risk of leaks, and even if there was a leak there are sensors to detect fluid leaks.

Good examples are many of the classroom robot arm projects; arm made of wood, and actuators are large syringes. You have two syringes and tubing between them. You attach one syringe to the robot mechanism and leave the other for you to push. Water is filled in the tubing and syringes. Depress the syringe, other syringe extends the robot. Retract the syringe, other syringe retracts the robot. Same application could be used to make a doll walk, stand up, move arms, fingers, hips, waist, etc.

but with fluid, you will need some type of electric pump to pressurize the system. The good thing is the fluid will always be present unless it leaks out. Charging the battery for the pump is all you will ever have to do. An air system loses the air as the actuators work. Therefore you have to refill the tank. An air system will also slow down when the bottle loses it high pressure. A fluid system w/ pump will always run 100%.

rubherkitty wrote:but with fluid, you will need some type of electric pump to pressurize the system. The good thing is the fluid will always be present unless it leaks out. Charging the battery for the pump is all you will ever have to do. An air system loses the air as the actuators work. Therefore you have to refill the tank. An air system will also slow down when the bottle loses it high pressure. A fluid system w/ pump will always run 100%.

I think there's some confusion.

While you can use a common reservoir, a single pump and individual valves to actuate everything on a doll, that's not a common solution. It can get very complicated, since you would need tubing for sending and returning the fluid. For the application of moving/ actuating a doll, a hydraulic ram is more what would move the fluid between the reservoirs. We would use linear actuators though for the ram. Check out this video, where the syringes are being used.

https://youtu.be/P2r9U4wkjcc

The little syringes work because the robot arm is very light. Space can be saved because all of the driving actuators can be placed in one location, while the actuating happens locally. Thinking of heavy machinery, like backhoes, excavators or bulldozers could be better examples. In those hydraulic rams is a fixed amount of fluid, no extra tanks. For actuating dolls, we could use smaller versions of those hydraulic rams.

These are good engineering discussions. Keep em coming

You might save space where the final movement is desired. Inside head for eyes, mouth, etc, but you are making a much more complex system.

Common animatronics you have the electric servo tied directly to the final movement.
This hydraulic system you have a 1 hose actuator tied to the final movement. The hose has to be run to another hydraulic actuator that has to be driven by the linear actuator.
And you're not going to fit this all in a doll head so you will have to have the main system in the body w/ hoses that run up through the neck into the head. Why not use a micro linear actuator directly to the final movement? You eliminate 2 hydraulic actuators, 1 hose and the chance of leaked fluids. I might chance air in a doll, but I'm not putting fluid in my doll.

I do believe you're right that ultimately, a robotic doll will be controlled by hydraulics or pneumatics. When 40 - 60 actuators have to be manipulated, it will probably require a on board electric hydraulic pump or air pump
with electric controlled valving. Or could be individual hydraulic actuators controlled by a bank of linear actuators. I'm still trying to learn the basics and haven't studied Boston Dynamics robots.

I'm really leaning towards just using common rotary RC servos. I'd love to use linear servo's, but the micro's are $70.00 ea. I really want to keep the whole system in the dolls head. I then have the option to sell the self contained animatronic heads for use on any doll that it will fit size wise and thread pattern. It will be scaled for a 150cm/ 5" doll, but can be fudged up or down body size a little.

rubherkitty wrote:RE: Air.
Problem of using a tank is you can't fill them w/a common 120 PSI home compressor. Which I own 4 of from small portables to industrial floor models. These tanks are high pressure "3000 - 4500 PSI" and require a special compressor. I would have to drive 80m RT to have tanks filled.

Yes, 20-30MPa tanks require special equipment for refilling.

Perhaps you know of a place that picks up and delivers?

For me, getting refills is not to onerous. It's a 15 minute walk to the welding supply.

LDF wrote:

rubherkitty wrote:RE: Air.
Problem of using a tank is you can't fill them w/a common 120 PSI home compressor. Which I own 4 of from small portables to industrial floor models. These tanks are high pressure "3000 - 4500 PSI" and require a special compressor. I would have to drive 80m RT to have tanks filled.

Yes, 20-30MPa tanks require special equipment for refilling.

Perhaps you know of a place that picks up and delivers?

For me, getting refills is not to onerous. It's a 15 minute walk to the welding supply.

My closest town that has a gas station and grocery store is 10m away.

So, I guess I'm at the point of designing the animatronic system based on head size and skull design, etc.
I'm thinking of just doing a simple eye blink system w/a oral mouth first since I don't have a oral doll head and they do seem to be in demand.
I will hold off on the shopping list compilation as "what's available" will probably change before I need to start ordering. I will also start a dedicated thread for a DIY animatronic head so we can all learn.

Been on this project, need to advance on the programming end and the right controller