ANIMATRONICS

Do you remember the T-Rex shown in the science fiction Jurassic Park? Was it an animation or a moving picture or some computer graphic effects? It was a mechatronic puppet popularly known as “ANIMATRONICS”. It was a combination of computer-generated imagery in configuration with life-sized animatronics dinosaurs which perfectly recreated the appearance and natural movement on screen of a full-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Animatronics is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy, and mechatronics which is a portmanteau of animation and electronics. Before the term “Animatronics” became popular, it was considered a robot. But after Walt Disney, often credited for popularizing Animatronics developed them for Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise Ride and Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room Attraction and so on, it became a driving force revolutionizing the technology used to develop animatronics. The first animatronics characters shown to the public were a dog and a horse, as separate attractions at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Animatronic characters appear in both films and video games, most notably in the horror genre and survival horror video games that generally feature possessed animatronics as antagonists. Its main advantage over CGI and Stop Motion is that the simulated creature has a physical presence moving in front of the camera in real-time.

The technology behind animatronics has become more and more advanced and sophisticated over the years, making puppets even more lifelike. Animatronics has been developed as a career that combines the disciplines of mechanical engineering, casting/sculpting, control technologies, electrical/electronic systems, radio control, and airbrushing.

The Disney company is about to use animatronics and artificial intelligence to stimulate one of their characters in real life: Pascal, one of the characters in the movie Tangled. On the other hand, Dubai is already using police robots created by Pal Robotics.