Nova - A Companion Bot

Meet Nova, my first companion bot! She is a moving and light up fairy dragon that sits on my shoulder. Version 1 was built fast and for a deadline, but I'm looking forward to upgrading her in the future.

Unlike other companion bots out there, she is soft and cuddly and has minimal 3D components. This is partially for aesthetic reasons and partially because during her build process I only had access to a borrowed printer for a few weeks.

She was created to rest on my shoulder like a fur stole and has some randomized movements in her wings and head that give her lifelike resting movements. When you touch the charm on her forehead her wings change color and flap faster. Her movements are part butterfly and part bird, making her a curious and cuddly companion! I'm hoping to incorporate her with my color changing fairy costume so she can do some color changing in response to the magic wand that controls that costume as well.

Check out the project logs for details about each part of her build.

Project Logs

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Nova's Summer Vacation
Angela Sheehan • 08/30/2024 at 03:10 • 0 comments

Nova had a chance to visit the Colorado Renaissance Festival with me this summer, which was a wonderful excuse to style a new coordinating outfit to wear her with and a new carrying case. The fun converted cat backpack I brought her to Supercon in didn't quite fit the theme of the event, so I started brainstorming a cage-style case.

Nova's original carrying case was a converted bird cage-style decoration, but the addition of her new addressable LEDs and extra stuffing made her body a little less flexible - she had completely outgrown it!

I quickly got to work trying to find a replacement cage online or in local craft stores that could not only act as a carrying case but also let her stretch her wings a bit. I ended up finding a terrarium-style cage at a local Michael's crafts and set to work upgrading it for the occasion.

I added a false bottom to hold a battery bank and cable so that she could have an additional power source if needed and covered it with a fun butterfly print fabric harvested from some thrifted leggings.

After a quick fit test, it was on to some more upgrades.

The weather here in Colorado in summer can be quite unpredictable, so I was worried about being at an outdoor event with an electronic companion. I sewed up a custom vinyl cover for her cage to help protect from rain and added a small pouch I found from Dollar Tree (and custom painted to match) for holding the cover and other accessories for the day.

The rain cover came in quite handy as a good part of the afternoon was spent under umbrellas and waiting out a thunderstorm!

The weather meant we didn't get to have as many wonderful interactions with festival attendees as we would have liked, but did get a chance to have some whimsical interactions with staff members and a few kids throughout the day. My favorite part of building this companion is the joy on people's faces when I ask if they'd like to hold her. Hope to bring her out again next year on a day when the weather will allow us to meet more people!

I was a little worried Nova wouldn't quite fit in, but we even met another handcrafted (though non electronic) dragon friend!

I'm excited to bring Nova out to more events where people have never seen a companion robot and have great conversations with folks about how she works.
Nova at Supercon 6
Angela Sheehan • 11/03/2022 at 06:36 • 0 comments

I'm getting ready to bring Nova out on her second official outing - Supercon 2022!
Nova made her debut at the SparkFun holiday party, right before the pandemic, and hasn't been out in the world much since. She does have a semi-permanent home inspiring kids at the library makerspace I work in, but she's ready to meet other companion bots.
To make her easier to carry around the conference, I bought her a new travel backpack that she can flap her wings in.
Adding Movement
Angela Sheehan • 05/10/2020 at 21:17 • 0 comments

The most important part of this project, and new skill for me, was creating natural and whimsical movements. One of the most compelling things about the companion bots I have interacted with is their randomized movements that begin to feel like responses to their environment.

My first challenge was how to create flapping wings with the least amount of parts. After a lot of research and thought, I came across a gripper attachment for a servo that looked like it might be adaptable for a coordinated wing flap - eliminating the need for two servos to drive her wings.

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Crafting a Cuddle-Worthy Body
Angela Sheehan • 05/10/2020 at 20:51 • 0 comments

The final part of Nova's build was trying to stitch together a soft body that securely stored all her hardware but felt life-like and cuddly. My concept of a dragon as a luxury fur stole took quite a bit of patterning and fabric shopping. Earlier in the process I draped some muslin to get a feel for the scale of her body against the blue velvet dress I planned to wear with her.

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Designing a Face
Angela Sheehan • 05/10/2020 at 20:38 • 0 comments

The process of creating Nova's face began with some trial and error of designing a plush face, modeled partly after the character Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon series.

After disappointment with the way my fabric selections looked in prototypes and worry that a stuffed face would be hard to mount and stabilize, I turned to sculpture.
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Designing Nova's Wings
Angela Sheehan • 05/10/2020 at 20:08 • 0 comments

Working on a smaller scale than my Color Stealing Fairy costume's wings gave me a unique opportunity to explore creating edge lit acrylic wings. The small scale meant that weight would not be a huge limiting factor, and was eager to try out some ideas I wish I could have done with my human-sized wings. My goal with these acrylic wings was to have something that still felt delicate and not too bulky, so rather than try and install manufactured LED strips along the wings, I started sketching a custom PCB with side-firing LEDs along the outline.

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