On the Road Towards Self-Balancing Animatronics?

MickeyWaffleCo.

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
So I was watching a Rise of the Resistance POV the other day, and this Kylo Ren animatronic caught my eye (just like every time I watch a RotR POV.)

Timecode 14:50



The movement just seems so unconvincing and unrealistic that I’m surprised this made it into the final attraction.

This spurred me to think: will we ever have animatronics that are self-balancing and capable of walking even a few steps? Since some modern animatronics are fully electronic, and with inductive charging and wireless communication technologies available, I see no reason to have animatronics tethered to the floor, as long as it’s possible to have them balance themselves.

We already have airborne animatronics such as the new Spider-Man animatronic for Avengers Campus, capable of directing their movement automatically in midair. This makes me think that walking animatronics might not be too far off.

I know that animatronics are very heavy, and this may be one of the reasons we’ve never seen walking animatronics before, but even if it involved using electromagnets in the floor to secure the animatronic after every step, I really think this could be pulled off. It would really be the next big step for A-As (no pun intended), adding another dimension to their realism and allowing Disney to rely less on projections and screen-based effects.

So what do you think? Will we see walking animatronics anytime soon?
 

MickeyWaffleCo.

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
The technology is here already.
Yes, but I’m wondering when we’ll see it in a small enough form factor that it can be used in human-sized animatronic figure such as used in Disney attractions, especially when those animatronics also need to fit in facial motors and other technology.
 

Miru

Well-Known Member
Lucky was much bigger than a human and the other roamers had wheels/treads to move with rather than feet. Was Push an AA or not?
 
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