You might consider pausing your Netflix account for a while—no spoilers, we promise. Meanwhile, in a niche corner of the internet where creators still occasionally surprise audiences with real animatronics rather than relying on CGI, Jesse Velez, an animatronics designer, reveals the process behind building one of the most impressive sci-fi props for a notoriously popular TV show from recent history.
He and his team built a fully wireless, portable animatronic robot that mirrored human movements in real time, enabling it to travel globally—across Los Angeles, New York, Seoul, Istanbul, and London—to interact with the “Wednesday” cast on live red carpet events.
Walking Hand Prototype to Walking/Performing Hand
Like many great things, it started with a simple prototype: a hand that walked. The global premieres feature a portable, wireless animatronic hand that allows the performer to control it in real time and improvise spontaneously with audiences and fans.
Building a “Thing”-esque Walking Hand
On to the tech and magic that got the job done. As you’ll see Velez’s approach to this and many projects is to just creatively hack together off-the-shelf and purpose built components and then to make it all work and feel seamless, so here’s the rough (pun intended) breakdown of what the “ingredients” for their finished live performing animatronic hand:
- The “Brain” Input: Velez found Manus Motion Capture Gloves to be able to capture all the movement data from his real hand and fingers.
- The “Body” & Hardware: Velez and his team worked with All Bionics for their high end prosthetic robotics, which they then modified, custom assembled, and combined with 3D-printed fingers and wrist to match.
- The Power & Guts: The FPV drone batteries and boost converters which Velez and his team used were an interesting bit of hacking on their own because of how it helped make everything else wireless.
- The “Nervous System” aka Custom Software: Velez highlights that the project’s most critical component—where the majority of time and effort was invested—was developing custom software to translate complex data from the mocap gloves into real-time robotic movements that not only matched but also felt as natural and fluid as possible.
- Practical, Live “Performable” Magic: While the cool factor of the spec alone is certainly high, one point Velez consistently comes back that no matter how the tech reads, the end goal is still just storytelling.
The Future is Tactile
Jesse Velez’s work on this project is more than just a cool behind-the-scenes story. It’s a testament to a growing movement that values tangible spectacle. In an age of digital overload, the visceral thrill of seeing something real, complex, and alive right in front of you is powerful.
Want to see more of this blend of art and engineering? Follow Jesse Velez for deep dives into animatronics, practical effects, and the relentless creativity that brings our wildest sci-fi dreams to life, one servo and line of code at a time.
