Ever wondered how it feels to have the Sorting Hat decide your fate? [Will Dana] wanted to find out, so he conjured a bit of Hogwarts magic, and crafted a fully animatronic Sorting Hat from scratch. In the video below, he covers every step of bringing this magical purple marvel to life—from rapid joystick movements to the electronics behind it all.

The heart of the project is two 9g servos—one actuates the mouth, and the other controls the eyebrows—powered by an ESP32 microcontroller. Communication between two ESP32 boards ensures smooth operation via the ESP-NOW protocol, making this a wireless wonder. The design process involved using mechanical advantage to solve jittery servo movements, a trick that will resonate with anyone who’s fought with uncooperative motors.

If animatronics or themed projects excite you, Hackaday has covered similar builds, from a DIY BB-8 droid to a robot fox.

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