If I wanted to make an animatronic, even a very basic one, does anyone have an idea where to start? Chatgpt says most hobbyist start with an arduino and has a small list of things to buy. I'm assuming the coding regarding what I need to impliment within the computer is going to be the easiest, since, I've seen free plug and play info on that, but anyone know a good book to begin with?

>>2933629 (OP)
Decide on something reasonable you want to achieve and work towards that. If you wanted to make the thing in your picture, you'd need a 3D printer, cheap chinkshit servos, and maybe a few long videos on linkage systems. You need to understand how mechanical power transmission works and what options you have available when you want to achieve specific types of motion. The 3D printer can be replaced with wood or aluminium, but you're gonna have to learn CAD at some point either way.
>arduino
Arduino is good for the very first very baby steps, but you should be moving over to esp32 as soon as you possibly can, it's the go-to microcontroller of current year for a million reasons.
>ChatGPT
LLMs will handhold you through everything with a project like this, including writing all the code, but use a less goycore one. Grok or Claude.

>>2933629 (OP)
Buy a little arduino starter kit on amazon. They are cheap, will come with a lot of components, and usually have guides to basic projects. Just fuck around with that until you get your feet under ya. Once you are familiar enough with the stuff in the box you will have an idea where you need to look to find guidance for your specific project.

Or you can check out /robowaifu/ over on Alogs Space. Ignore all the waifu shit and they have a pretty decent understanding of animatronics, and they are friendly guys, lil mentally ill, and will be more than willing to hold your hand through the process.

>>2933629 (OP)
>does anyone have an idea where to start?
yes, google

but you won't do it.

>>2933629 (OP)

>>2933646
>>2933645
thanks m8s

https://www.bottango.com/

why didnt you post in the robot general