To make a short story long, I've always had a fascination with animatronics, but never really tried my hand at them until a few years back when I got my first Arduino. Admittedly, I didn't know much about what I was doing, but I like the possibilities. My most succesful project was in animating a halloween skull decoration to rotate its head and open/close its mouth. It's not terrible, especially for someone with zero electronics experience, but it's a mess of wires and bad soldering for something I'm sure can be made much simpler.
A recent new show on SyFy has re-ignited my interest: Jim Henson's Creature Show Challenge. I've gleaned bits and pieces from what little of the actual technical stuff they show and I've been googling more and more to learn what I can. Traditionally, these big-time animatronic creatures use 2.4ghz transmitters and receivers to wirelessly control servos and pneumatics, with an operator, just off camera using a multi-channel RC device. Not wanting to spend several hundred bucks more on this type of equipment, my question to you out there is: Can something similar be achieved by augmenting parts I've already got?
I controlled the motion of the afforementioned skull using a Wii Nunchuck interface. I find it pretty flexible, with plenty of buttons I can assign to various potential functions. Ideally what I'd like to do is have a base controller, comprised of the Wii Nunchuck connected to the Arduino, transmitting wirelessly (radio or perhaps bluetooth) to some sort of receiver that can be mounted on my puppet and powered seperately, to drive the servos, LEDs or whatever I attach.
I'm at a loss to understand the use of Xbee components, shields, other Arduino add-ons, whether or not I need a second Arduino, and a slew of other feasability things.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Concerns? Questions? Please help. Thanks!