Mechanizing a BJD

When I was an undergrad in mechanical engineering I did a lot of work with model airplanes. They make some fairly strong micro servos that can be controlled remotely that would be decently straightforward for basic turning motion in the head and waist and simple arm movements in a larger doll. You'd have to hollow a lot of the interior resin to reduce the weight and to create enough space for the parts. Remaking the jointing system from ball joint to a low friction pin joint with bearings would also help reduce the amount of power needed to get them to move. There are a few publicly available audio based AI's that can converse and wireless speakers/microphones small enough to fit in a dolls head or even clip to an outfit. Whether or not the voice would sound right is a different story, although I wonder if there would be a way to couple it with a more natural sounding voice generator program like the one they use for Hatsune Miku... For upper body motion and the AI programming would be the main consideration, plus you would have to have a computer nearby to run the software and have wireless capability. Legs and having something that would be stable upright would be much more difficult. Human bipedal motion is really tough to replicate. Reshelling an existing robot in doll parts is a neat idea. You'd have to be careful about upsetting the balance system, which is probably why most of the original parts are kept for the doll in the video. I'm already plotting for an android/steam punk doll when I finally finish grad school and have enough free time and space to do major work. The gears in my head are really turning so to speak after seeing the video so might add a few movable joints and a wireless mike/speaker system to the project plan.

 

A few more years probably. I'm working on a PHD so its hard to tell exactly how long it will take. Don't worry about not having schooling. You have to give up a lot of other things to do it and I know lots of people that don't have the formal education that can absolutely blow me out of the water as far as design and construction skill goes. Its mostly practice and experience so If you have an idea go for it! I'm getting to the point where I really wish I lived somewhere with a garage so I can work on things properly. Modding dolls in a board thrown over the top of my stove with an open window and the stove fan for ventilation doesn't let me do nearly as much as I would like to.

 

I love chobits, and YOSD's always reminded me a bit of Chobit's tiny persocoms! If there was a clear, easy way to get a mechanised doll, I would go for a YOSD, and buy a completely new YOSD for the purpose of turning it animate. I'm attached to the idea of my dolls being dolls... I don't think I'd want to change the ones I already have, but I WOULD design a YOSD with motion in mind! It would be fun! I'd consider a cat with catlike motions. Again, the ones I already have... picking just a few actions for them to be able to do would be too difficult... I'd wanna go more all-out. You'd never get me away from the computer if that happened, playing with the code and making them do crap all day..

 

It would be cool, but for me, I'd only be interested if it doesn't limit the dolls current posing capacities.
For example, if including a mechanical joint makes the doll less poseable or more fragile, I would probably stay away from it.
I don't know why, but I like dolls being fully dolls and robots being fully robots. haha

 

I thaught I was getting to the point where I wouldn't see anything new when it comes to Bjds. Now I want my doll to dance! XD

 

To be honest, this is actually what first got me into BJDs. My roommate and I were working on a story and she had an idea for what we called Mame's. Basically they were MSD androids with and AI that would eventually develop more on its own. Eventually each character had their own (one has 3) and they treated them like their own children and would buy them stuff. They eventually would even learn to talk. Each had their flaws too: one of them has to think about what he said, some of them often need checking on their joints, since they have been over used.

The first one actually is my inspiration for my soon to be first doll, Kimitsu.

 

If anyone does this and officially makes Angelic Layer a real game I'll buy one. For now I'll be fine with stop motion bringing my little ones to life on camera.

 

I think it would be really cool (and creepy) for a doll to be able to move on its own and do stuff. I know if I saw my Zombie Sol from Ringdoll walk around my house I'd probably have a few minor panic attacks when he took me off guard hahaha.

 

That's a very interesting idea! I wish it was possible or rather affordable enough for the typical bjd consumer. I'd make bjd movies!

 

I just read the article referenced below. It's about a new technique for printing electronic circuits distributed through a material, and self-assembling. And one of the things it talks about is the potential to have electronics distributed through 3d-printed objects. The author says, "You can print mechanical objects now, but the use of the strictly mechanical is limited."

Which made me think of our beloved dolls. Right now, they're strictly mechanical. But if you could have a robot in your favorite doll scale, with a sculpted body and face by your favorite sculptor... would that have any value to you? Why, or why not? How smart would it have to be to have value to you... or conversely, how smart would it have to be for you not to want it?







http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/s...-micro-manufacturing.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

 

Imagine having a little Sumomo from Chobits! I'd love a robot doll that had some level of AI

 

A number of years ago, I tried to share the Chobits anime with my girlfriend of the time. She accused me of wanting a Chi of my own. "No," I said, "but I'd love to have a Sumomo!"

 

I don't know anything about Chobits, but anything that brings Angelic Layer closer to reality is a good one! I see bjds as being a starting point for something like this. All they'd have to do is adjust and modify. They would not be on topic here, but somewhere they would!

 

I would like to rescind my opinion on the matter.

 

It seems like a really nice idea, but I really don't know if I'd want one for myself. They'd be on all the time.

 

As someone already pointed out, it would open up the gateway for deeper "relations" with dolls. However, that part does not really worry me so much. I don't know if any read The Cloud Atlas, (the book, not the movie), there is a scene in it where someone throws an unwanted AI doll over a bridge into a river, similarly to what some people do with unwanted pets. The doll begs and screams not to be thrown away, but the owner doesn't care and tosses the doll over the side. Furthermore, the dolls in this story were not just robots, more like cyborgs, who had some form of actual intelligence. Is this what would happen with BJDs, if they become really high tech, in the distant future? The thought is disturbing.

 

I read a science fiction story years ago... so many that I don't remember anymore who wrote it, or what the title of the story was. In the story, though, there were 1/6 scale fashion dolls with artificial intelligence, but they only retained their memory and stable personality as long as their owner stayed interested enough to "feed" them every day... if longer than a couple of days went by without their owners feeding them, they wiped their memory and shut off.