Light-weight and strong… A truss-like structure comes to mind…
Maybe, It turns out that finding foam mannequin parts is much more difficult than expected. I think i will end up going for the rod option with hand attached to the end. My choice should be confirmed tomorrow.
I’m not sure if any of you have done this before but it’s worth a shot.
I would really like to control my mannequin via computer to SSC-32 to servos and i think this is still possible on a cheapish budget if i do something quite odd. If i obtain a servo (lets say the HS-805BB hitecrcd.com/servos/show?name=HS-805BB) and then hook this up to a 5:1 gear box and then transfer the pot from within the servo to the end of the gear box i should still be able to maintain the position of the output shaft of the gear box via the SSC-32 control assuming i’ve also modified the servo to rotate a full 360 degrees. (this eliminates the need for obtaining $200 worth of encoder hardware + the need to transfer all this information to the computer via additional electronics).
I am not sure if it’s possible to do this but if you guys have ever done something similar or know something that i do not then please let me know.
Yes this has been done and will work. The speed will be reduced to approx. 2.1 seconds to travel 180° though. The biggest challenge is to get the gear reduction and pivot point small enough and strong enough to be integrated into the arm.
Impressively fast reply, thank you 
robotshop.ca/ProductSearch.a … HS%2D755MG
I just found these. Now this is 50% more costly ($250 overall) than the cheapest option (that i found) however it saves me alot of effort and i think that $250ish is a decent price to pay to save 24 hours of stress. I have a few simple things to check now that i should have done at the very start (in relation to the SSC-32) then i’ll start purchasing.
Animetown suggested using the servo i mentioned earlier and a 5:1 gearbox, he never mentioned these pre made ones or how to control the position but i imagine he knew of these thus it ties in so amazingly well with my suggestion. I’ll be using some cheaper servo’s however because they still supply plenty of torque.
youtube.com/watch?v=5uAaJd8Z8kQ
Well here is how it’s turned out guys, It needs some presentation touches but the bulk is there. Thought i’d show you the final result for all the help
The servos are being controlled through the SSC-32.
So when are you going to make the setup so I can control her from my computer? I think it would be simple to do.
Thats outside the scope of the project , The next stage will be to have a camera on her so that she can track movement and point at people walking past. I’m not entirely sure if this will be completed however.