The Brute Golem is a hulking beast of an animatronic. Developed for a Baltimore-area haunted attraction, this prop stands as a prototype of a new kind of haunted house animatronic - one that is highly configurable through on-the-fly reprogramming, live show control with the Hand Command system, and uniquely coordinated axes of movement. Another aim of the project was to set a higher bar with the level of sculptural detail.

Hand Command allows a user to send positional and configuration data to a remote system easily and intuitively. One hand is on the base to manipulate the control panel (buttons for noises, lights, etc.) and the other hand moves as if controlling a hand puppet. One of the primary goals of Golem Workshop is to bring about new and impactful experiences with robots and creatures effects, and the Hand Command was developed to simplify and yet enhance the production of such experiences.

Pup Golem, also controllable by the Hand Command, was designed to fit inside ordinary hand puppets. It is a fairly simple mechanical design, aimed at mimicking only the relevant movement of a human hand. This technology enables a robot designer to easily add specific personality to their robot by simply "reskinning" it with a new puppet, as well as enabling hand puppets to appear to come alive without human operators! It is shown here with a Golem custom skin called 'Crackerneck', a realistic goblin developed to exemplify how the Pup Golem isn't just for kiddie puppet shows.