How much stuff can a techy fit into a nose? Well...
Errol's nose breathes; there's fans, lights, a smoke generator, the nose moves and whiskers wiggle. The electronics module attached to the snout carries all that stuff and is moved by a pushrod from a servo. I wanted Errol to simulate breathing depending on how hot he is, so the software determines a pattern.
But there's a lot more going on- a temperature routine activates the cooling fan for times on the dance floor. The snout lights suggest inner fire. And to add to the illusion, a fan and heated coil of thin wire produces smoke (more on that in another journal) The fibre-optic whiskers follow the nose movement and just look cool. The nose has a 'flashlight' to illuminate a dark room or light up a page of music in front of him.
The mouth part has a position sensor, blow sensor, 3 pushbuttons and an indicator light. The switches you activate with your jaw (ie each side and forward- combinations of these activate various routines) That's a lot of stuff! And there's a fair bit of software that interprets all that (like debouncing, polling for changes and dealing with timers)
No wonder I miss a lot of TV!