Animatronics

For other uses, see Animatronics (disambiguation).
Animatronic figure of Chuck E. Cheese in operation at the Laguna Hills, California Chuck E. Cheese location, September 14, 2017
Tyrannosaurus at London's Natural History Museum

An animatronic is a mechatronic puppet[1] controlled by a machine to move in a fluent way.[2] They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions.

It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy and mechatronics.[3][4] Animatronic figures can be implemented with both computer and human control, including teleoperation. Motion actuators are often used to imitate muscle movements and create realistic motions. Figures are usually encased in body shells and flexible skins made of hard or soft plastic materials and finished with colors, hair, feathers and other components to make them more lifelike. Animatronics stem from a long tradition of mechanical automata powered by hydraulics, pneumatics and clockwork.[5]

Before the term "animatronics" became common, they were usually referred to as "robots". Since then, robots have become known as more practical programmable machines that do not necessarily resemble living creatures. Robots (or other artificial beings) designed to convincingly resemble humans are known as "androids". The term Animatronics is a portmanteau of animate and electronics.[6] The term Audio-Animatronics was coined by Walt Disney in 1961 when he started developing professional animatronics for entertainment and film.

  1. ^ "Definition of Animatronic". www.merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  2. ^ "ANIMATRONIC | English meaning". dictionary.cambridge.org/. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  3. ^ Shooter, P.E., Steven B. "Animatronics". Mechanical Engineering Dept. Bucknell University. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Define: animatronics". Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on August 13, 2012. The technique of making and operating lifelike robots
  5. ^ "The history of animatronics". roborobotics.com. Archived from the original on 2024-05-28. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  6. ^ "the definition of animatronic". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-10-15.