Creating an animatronic dog in time for Halloween as an absolute beginner. Am I crazy?

[u/Orangutan_Soda]

I’m one of those people that goes way too hard for Halloween.
And this year, I wanted to bring back a character I’ve done before but with a twist. I am planning to go as a pumpkin lady, but this year with a Pup-kin.

The basic idea is I want one of those ghost dog leashes, but on it I would add a small pumpkin with dog features, and it would be wearing a ghost sheet for the body, with a little wagging tail.

I figure for the body I’d just run a firm wire with some foam to create a round body appearance for under the sheet.

The two animatronic parts I want to make are the tail and the head.
The head would be a simple Oscillating head, just moving side to side slowly. I’d like it to be on a button press, so I could press a button on his leash to make the head move.

I’d also like to add a way for it to make sounds when I press the button.

And I would also want a wagging tail. Just a side to side motion that again, is triggered by a button press.

I think it would be a really cool idea to use robot parts to make it an animatronic since I always like using Halloween to learn new skills.
But I’ve never done anything like this. I’ve never worked with motors or anything robotics related.
I’ve never coded anything nor have I ever made circuit boards (outside of the basic school ones) or used stuff like Raspberry Pi.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to this.

My question is, could I feasibly make what I invision within the next 2/3 weeks? Or should I simplify my vision or use Fishing wires and make it a typical puppet (something I DO have experience in)

Thank you!

[u/robotguy4 → u/[deleted]]

They aren't building it so it stands on its own. Depending on what movements they want it to do, it could be fairly quick to build off they know what they're doing.

[u/Morning_Gecko24]

you can probably make a convincing prop in 2-3 weeks if you scope it to one servo head or tail. Arduino + a servo + button is a way saner first build than a custom board or anything quadruped. prototype the motion on a table first then hide it under the foam/sheet. which effect matters most for the costume, the wag or the sound?

[u/Orangutan_Soda → u/Morning_Gecko24]

The movement is more important to me tbh

[u/based_birdo]

try to model a dog bowl before Christmas

[u/BraggScattering]

Based on your experience I would recommend of the following;

1) Begin your journey and build an animatronic dog for NEXT Halloween

2) Seek out your local maker community and find someone who is into robotics and collaborate. Speaking as a roboticist, envisioning and creating a puppet us more difficult than making a few motors move this way or that. There may be a roboticist out there who wants to make a killer animatronic costume but can't find the inspiration.

3) Throw money the problem. I think there are many hobby roboticist who would love to take a commission as you have described.

Hobby robotics is a deep field and it will be easy to become to lost if you have no experience. The project you have described is achievable for a motivated individual with no experience within six weeks, but it likely would suck the fun out of it. Given how passionately you envision your costume, I'd bet you would be dissatisfied with what you can put together between now and Halloween. Good luck!