I won’t make a step-by-step tutorial, but I will document a few steps along the way and publish my design when it’s complete. The only thing I have IRL for now is the thumb I printed and assembled. The hand design is the part I’m least confident in. And, the head is the most complex part, so those have been taking all the time till now.

There are plenty of tutorials online for this sort of thing. From modifying store bought models, to kits people make, to old-school casting plastic parts from self-made molds, to designing and 3D printing. I’m using Blender for the design, because I already know Blender, that’s a lot of previously-earned knowledge. I also have a lot of experience building things myself from previous jobs, and hobbies. I’m watching videos for the details I’m less certain of. The skull and skeleton are free downloads, but require extensive modification on the inside to this purpose.

The parts I can’t make and need to buy are stupid-expensive these days. The universal joint for the neck is only sold in pairs, but I only need one, I suppose to make it worth selling, were $15. The two boards to drive everything were $160 plus the two micro SD cards were another $22, but I went with a purpose designed solution, rather than an Arduino solution. There’s the servos ($45), the struts ($9), the turntable bearing ($7), a ball bearing for the jaw ($7), a box of tiny screws ($8), etc. It all adds up fast. Alibaba Express helps, but not much, buying enough at one store to get free shipping helps. Plus, of course, the 3D printer which I already have, but was $1000 six years ago, for a Prusa.