The producers of A&E's new TV show "Duck Dynasty the Revival" contacted me requesting a fortune teller based on Uncle Si. They wanted it built so that the animated character could be removed and the actual Uncle Si could step inside of it during one of their episodes.
This was a project with tight time restraints as they needed it quickly for filming the episode.
Rather than a complete machine order,it was purchased in kit form from my available fortune teller machine kits. This is why it is shown as 80% complete.Parts and materials such as the bill validator, audio speaker,card bezel, interior and exterior decor, and lighting was to be installed by the customer / production team.
The finished product can be seen in Season 1 episode 9 "Si's Unfortunate Advice"
Testing head motions off body
Shipped out in kit form to be assembled by customer
Clip of Episode 9 showing the machine
Originally the robotic Uncle Si character was ordered with just a basic left and right head movement. I felt that this was too simple , especially since it was to be placed in the Duck Commander museum gift shop. Therefore, I gave them a complimentary upgrade to a more expressive full 3-axis head movement. This allows the programmed head to move in all directions as well as tilt .This can be seen briefly towards the end of the show's episode.Unfortunately because of their limited budget,the customer didn't order any arm or hand movements, which would have added even more liveliness to the character.
The head used is a male head from my fortune teller machine kit dressed up to resemble Uncle Si. I recommended to the production team that I could have had a sculpture of Uncle Si's head made so it would have an exact resemblance of him, but again because of budget constraints they choose not to go with this, feeling the beard and hat would disguise him enough.
The cabinet was built with a large door in the back so the animated character could easily be unplugged and removed.Also, the electronics were designed to be attached to the inner sides of the cabinet. Both were made so that a person could step inside and play the part of a robotic character as requested. However, this is never shown in the episode as a script change was made and Si wore a fortune teller cabinet costume instead.
The cabinet was ordered to be painted a camo pattern as shown in the photos. This was later changed by the customer, and was repainted a solid dark green finish as can be seen in the show.
System operates by a single control module which controls the lighting,audio,animatronic character, and fortune card dispenser. It is also equipped with an SD card slot so user can load any audio files for robotic Uncle Si to recite.
This was an interesting project to build with the unique Duck Dynasty theme. It was fun to be involved working with the cast and production team building something that was in their show and now resides in their museum's gift shop.
In retrospect, there is a lot more that could have been done to really make this a more elaborate machine, but I did my best with the constraints I had to work with.
See this machine in person at the Duck Commander Museum in West Monroe,LA
Uncle SI Fortune Teller Machine
"SI-TAR"