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Disney to Create Walking Animatronic Dinosaur
nakhla writes "I came across this article discussing Disney's plans to create an animatronic dinosaur that can roam free through it's Disney's California Adventure park. Disney's Imagineering unit has been working on the technology for several years now. While short on technical details, the article does mention that it will be able to interact with guests in numerous ways. Hopefully it won't go berzerk like the animatronic characters in that old Simpsons episode!" No, hopefully it will go berzerk!
Nobody exploits technology to hoover money out of your wallet any better than the Mouse.
"I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating. And in fourteen days, I had lost exactly two weeks. Joe E. Lewis
Hopefully they will finally get around to re-animating uncle Walt.
after what happened in Jurassic Park and they still wanna try it
Smile... tomorrow will be worse.
Then let them tear Jeff Goldblum to pieces. Yeah, that'd be cool.
Need to make some Animatronic Japanese tourists to run in front of it screaming!
That's the magic," Sklar said. "When people see, hear and touch this character, it will be a real groundbreaking experience."
The character doesn't talk, but can respond with movements. Some of its potential antics are eating popcorn, "stealing" a guest's hat and sneezing. [...]
Disney chose a dinosaur because children are so fascinated with them, Sklar said, plus "it's a large enough character to get their attention."
Some visitors will scream "THIEF!!" Others will scream "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT'S GODZILLA!"
It is indeed a groundbreaking experience. Go Disney go! Scatter thine visitors... :-)
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What would be really sweet is if they could hook up some really enormous piledriver-like devices all over the park and synchronize them falling with the steps of the anamatron. That way it would have that hyper-realistic whole-earth-shuddering effect during each footfall.
My
Limekiller
Please don't moddd me down, Niiiice Laaadyy!
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
Strom Thurmond to be fitted with prosthetic walking aids.
Moo
An as-yet unnamed dinosaur (Tyrannosaurus, of course - is there any other kind?) will begin roaming (rampaging) through a designated area ("Bloodbath Town") of either California Adventure or Disneyland this spring, said Marty Sklar, vice chairman of Imagineering. This will be the first test of untethered (unfettered) Audio-Animatronics and the next phase in Imagineering's quest to increase interaction (exterminate) with visitors.
Disney created Audio-Animatronic figures and has used them in attractions since 1963, beginning with birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room (and they all look like what they really are - stupid moving dolls). But this will be the first one that's not fixed to a spot (cause the engineers got sick of doing that boring shit). An unseen operator (HAHAHA!! You will NEVER catch ME!!!) will guide the dinosaur's movements, allowing it to respond (chase) to guests (and eat them).
"That's the magic," Sklar said. "When people see, hear and touch (and get fragged by) this character, it will be a real groundbreaking experience (not to mention a real blast for the guys who get to run it and stomp on all those drooling rugrats who infest the park)."
The character doesn't talk (hey, six-inch teeth - who needs to talk? Just smile!), but can respond with movements ("slam jaws together over lawyer's head"... oops, wrong movie). Some of its potential antics are eating popcorn (sorry, I meant "people"), "stealing" a guest's hat (and the head under it) and sneezing (gotta get the blood of its snout somehow, right?).
Imagineers have long dreamed about walking Animatronics, but it took technology a while to catch up with their creative minds (yeah, getting them to walk and chew at the same time is a bitch).
Especially when it roams around the park, bonking people over the head with blunt objects and yelling, "Not the Mama!"
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
Wait until those model numbers reach T-100, then we'll need to call in Linda Hamilton to clean up the mess.
Rich
The world's most expensive Turok level!!!
OK, mix in the ingredients:
in a voice that sounds destinctly like Yul Brynner.. You answer "no" and the lizard says, "I'm going to eat you, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Please oh please don't color it purple and make it walk around singing.. I would be forced to defend myself with a large baseball bat.
Hmm... actually that might be fun..
- This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along, move along..
Disney is now lobbying to retroactively extend copyright laws to cover the dinosaurs. Although dinosaurs have fallen into the public domain, Disney believes that their new copyright on them will lead to greater innovation in the field of reptiles. After all, who else is creating Dinosaurs(TM) any more?
An insider at Disney has leaked the fact that the Dinosaurs(TM) are part of a copyright army that will be used to enforce Disney's intellectual property claims. Lawerence Lessig beware...if you see a Dinoasur(TM)...run!
I had a very scary experience at Disney in California a few years ago. I went on the "It's a Small World" Ride and the music didn't work. As if the ride doesn't already look like a shooting range when the music is on. You could hear the gears turning, the crazy robotic gestures and the boat bumping the underwater rails. It was like disney hell.
Another side note however, I would think that they could design this robot to be harmless. Example: give it no sharp edges, make the dino. shuffle its feet instead of taking big steps. If Disney makes this Dino. it is going to be the NERF BALL equivelant of the dinosaur world.
I don't keep a lid on my coffee so when I walk around I look busy -me