Hello all!

I'm working on a project to create an outfit/costume based on the 'ambassador kosh' character from babylon 5. ( I recommend googling it).

As part of this project I'm going to include some electronically controlled moving parts and various controllable lights.
1. eye piece opens and closes like a camera shutter
2. eye piece can glow either red or green
3. chest plate has random 'twinkling' lights
4. exhaust vents move
5. camera hidden on head displays veiw in-app for the operator to see

I'll be using a tablet of some kind to control the various features by way of an 'app' and a pi or arduino to control the lights and servos.
additional/optional components might include.

smoke/dry ice emissions from the exhaust vents.

I don't really have any questions at the moment, but I thought it'd be fun to document the project, though any suggestions would be welcome.

Currently the 'core' issues are that I'm not really sure how to do/make/obtain the eye-shutter itself, would anyone have suggestions. and also as I'll be using a lot of power I'll probably need some dedicated power distribution system ( components,tablet, controller all receiving power from a dedicated portable source ).

in the next few weeks I'll be posting concepts & drawings for how the proposed systems will interact, though
component <-> arduino <-> tablet is the basic control flow...

 

I've built a couple of servo controlled eye shutter mechanisms, one of which was Arduino controlled.

It was featured on Instructables. Perhaps you can get some ideas there. Here is the link:
http://www.instructables.com/id/new-animatronic-Eyes-Rock-On

EDIT: Oops, didn't see your requirement that it be like a camera shutter. Here's another link for ideas:

 

whoa... awesome stuff thanks!