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Racing Frog Noodle Co

Date:

Spring 2023

Location

Santa Fe, NM

Role

Lead Technical Designer

Project

Meow Wolf Grapevine - The Real Unreal

Software

SolidWorks

Racing Frog Noodle Co. is a kinetic sculptural sign in Meow Wolf's Grapevine exhibition. Being the first animatronic I've designed, it was an incredible learning experience where I was able to expand upon my skills in mechanical design.

Throughout my design process I had a few key goals:
- Devise a robust design that could withstand 70 hours/week of operation
- Minimize friction between kinetic components
- Maximize the amount of off-the-shelf components to facilitate ease of maintenance
- Fit assembly within a tight bounding box

Racing Frog Noodle Co. stands as one of the most successful animatronics made by Meow Wolf.

Racing Frog in Action

Racing Frog in Exhibit

Mechanical Design Ideation

CAD Animation

A chain and sprocket design was chosen to avoid slippage and precision tensioning. The sprocket wheels are driven by a motorized chain. A smaller sprocket, static with the rear wheel drives the legs and pedals via a small chain.

Armature Motorized

3D printed light cover

I designed a SLA 3D printed to achieve the creative and diffusion requirements of the lamppost which illuminates the frog below.

Sculpt on Armature

Sculpt by Cat Mills

Completed design

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