The Latex Maid, is a dental mannequin, drilled into a chair with an unhinged jaw, the jaw is then controlled by a linear motion actuator connected to Arduino Uno Rev 3, Sparkfun Spectrum Shield DEV-13116, Motor Driver, breadboard and laptop. This set up enables the actuator to move as it responds to sound – activating the jaw and enabling the Latex Maid to speak. I plan to surround the Latex Maid with empty beer cans, red leather boots, the laptop, a cross dressing mask and porn magazines.
After ringing multiple medical universities in search of a dental mannequin, I was able to source two from the Queens University nursing school in Belfast. One more full head was unusable as the teeth were immoveable inside the mannequin, although the other one was perfect as it had all the elements, I needed to fit an actuator to the teeth and move them. I then began looking into what actuator would be appropriate in order to make the teeth move. I wanted an actuator that displayed movement like that of a sex toy, this was important to me as one like this felt complimentary to the themes and personality of the project. I decided on an 1000 rpm actuator, with the pistons exposed, for about forty pounds.
As of this blog post, I’m still currently working with the hardware and coding element of the project to get the actuator to move the teeth concurrently with the monologue. I expect some elements / hardware to change as I continue to experiment with the piece to get it to a perfect place. I’m working with my coding wizard house mate to write the code. I’ve found this element of the project really challenging as I’ve never done anything like this. I’ve been really enjoying being a step out of my depth and learning.