Abstract :
Animatronics is a combination of
animation and electronics. What exactly is an animatronic? Basically, an
animatronic is a mechanized puppet. It may be preprogrammed or remotely
controlled. The animatronic may only perform a limited range of movements or it
may be incredibly versatile.
The scare created by the Great White
coming out of the water in "Jaws" and the tender otherworldliness of
"E.T." are cinematic effects that will not be easily forgotten. Later
animatronics was used together with digital effects. Through the precision,
ingenuity and dedication of their creators, animatronic creatures often seem as
real to us as their flesh-and- blood counterparts.
The first use of Audio-Animatronics was
for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland, which opened in June,
1963. The Tiki birds were operated using digital controls; that is, something
that is either on or off. Tones were recorded onto tape, which on playback
would cause a metal reed to vibrate. The vibrating reed would close a circuit
and thus operate a relay. The relay sent a pulse of energy (electricity) to the figure's mechanism which would cause a pneumatic valve to operate,
which resulted in the action, like the opening of a bird's beak. Each action (e.g., opening of the mouth) had a
neutral position, otherwise known as the "natural resting position" (e.g., in the case of the Tiki bird
it would be for the mouth to be closed). When there was no pulse of energy
forthcoming, the action would be in, or return to, the natural resting
position.
This digital/tone-reed system used
pneumatic valves exclusively--that is, everything was operated by air pressure.
Audio-Animatronics' movements that were operated with this system had two
limitations. First, the movement had to be simple--on or off. (e.g., The open and shut beak of a
Tiki bird or the blink of an eye, as compared to the many different positions of raising and
lowering an arm.) Second, the movements couldn't require much force or power. (e.g., The energy needed to open a
Tiki Bird's beak could easily be obtained by using air pressure, but in the case of lifting an arm, the pneumatic system didn't provide enough
power to accomplish the lift.) Walt and WED knew that this this pneumatic
system could not sufficiently handle the more complicated shows of the World's
Fair. A new system was devised.
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