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Walking Animatronic Dinosaur At Disney Park
Dan Howland writes "Shades of Jurassic Park: Disney's first walk-around, interactive animatronic character, Lucky the dinosaur, is now strolling around Disney's California Adventure, but will probably move to Disney's Animal Kingdom in the coming weeks. It kinda walks on two legs, just as the rumors promised, but actually pulls a cart for additional balance (and to hide the computers). Videos can be found on the link above. More photos, and a video of Lucky blowing his nose here."
Last year I was at Disney and they had this talking trach can that I assume was radio controlled. It looked like all the other trash cans except it would more around and talk. It really shocked the hell out of people. This dinosaur should be a riot!
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
man, when I went there last I saw a child freaking out when it had to leave Mickey mouse..
Sort of felt sorry for the big mouse.. that kid freaked..
Now I can just imagine the kids wanting to ride a dino..
Wow.. I can hear the screaming from here..
anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
Basically, it's a big remote controlled Robie Robot Jr that looks like a dinosaur. By the way, does anyone else remember the Radio Shack Robie Robot Jr, or was I the only person to get one as a kid when I was 6?
Every time I think that Disney is dying, they come up with something like this that convinces me Walt's spirit is still in there somewhere.
I forget who said this...
"Walt Disney has contributed more happiness to the world than all the religions combined."
Now if only the spirit of Walt would appear to take care of this copyright extension nonsense...
End of lesson. You may press the button.
so, um, is anyone going to welcome our new mechasaur overlords?
Go hug some trees.
Here's a mirror in case the site is slow.
And it was scary...*shiver*
if(!cool) exit(-1);
can he play soccer? If so I wanna see him vs. Abio.
StrategyTalk.com, PC Game Forums
I would think they would have started with something more Disney-ish, like Mickey Mouse or his close friend Darl McBride.
I think the legs are more like props then support. Judging from the video the dinosaur is really supported by the large cart it's carrying around.
it's still pretty slick looking though, but it would be much cooler if it really walked on its own.
-Jon
this is my sig.
looks like the dinosaur stomped on their server *ducks*
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
until it starts eating the tourists.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
I don't like how they have introduced it to slavery.
They actually already made one. As N8F8 mentioned the talking trash can, a very identical robot was made to represent R2D2. He rolled around with one of the parades. Both are fairly ingenious. They look like they are completely self controlled and no one has anything to do with them. However, if you watch the people who are nearby, you will see someone who looks like they have a messanger bag on their back with their hand stuck in it. (Put on hand on the small of your back, and then imagine a messanger bag covering it) Inside that bag are the controls for the robot. The cast member controlling the robot dresses and acts like a tourist, the only giveaway is that he follows the trash can alot, and goes backstage after the robot. I'm not sure how the trashcan talks, cause I didn't see the cast members mouth move (ventriloquism?) but there is very possibly a camera in the trash can, which stream video to another cast member who provides the voice. I'm not sure. The one who walks with R2D2 was dressed like the cast members who simply police the parade route. They are using something similar for Lucky. I'm not sure which article I read that mentioned this, but he has two cast members who control him. (Three cast members for such a small attraction seems high by their current casting levels) I imagine the same thing applies. Look for two people who are following the dinosaur around with their hands hidden behind their back in a messanger bag.
Google cache here
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"Walt Disney has contributed more happiness to the world than all the religions combined."
Sure, but has he Walt killed and tortured as many?
I THINK NOT!
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
Animatronic Slavery
Their Imagineers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should!
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What will archaeologists of the future think of this when they unearth its remains?
What kind of dinosaur is Lucky supposed to be? Looks suspiciously like a velociraptor. All I can think of when I look at the photos of Lucky is how funny it would be for him to leap on another animatronic dino and start eating him. Like this: Scenes cut from Jurassic Park: Velociraptors Devour a Barney (from Dr Fun).
I can't wait to head down to Disneyland and check it out.
Oh, wait a minute. We're supposed to be boycotting these evil, copyright abusing bastards... and I already compromised on Finding Nemo, so I can't do it again.
How about if I sneak into the park and promise not to have fun while I'm there?
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
>|<*:=
I'm more of a fan of SRL (www.srl.org) where they are downright dangerous. That in mind though I have to wonder if the creators of this robot have seriously taken the dangers into account. With srl danger is just implied and you know these things can hurt you. In this case I want to know if can it step on a child? Can it run a child over? Just curious. end15 my ears are ringing and I can't answer them...
All glory to the Hypnotoad!
I don't think Lucky looks much like the velociraptors on JP, except for being a bipedal dinosaur. Without consulting any references, I'd say he looks a lot more like a prosauropod (bipedal ancestors of the giant quadripedal sauropods) or possibly camptosaur. The head is certainly very sauropod-like. /humourless scientist
Freedom: "I won't!"
John Hammond: All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked.
Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but John, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists.
-Valen
Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
Well, I just hope he's not running Windows.
I had Robie Sr and he kicked ass! :) You could play music with the cassette player in his torso, and you could also record movement sequences on said tape deck. You could talk through the remote control and have your voice come out through his head. In fact (wow, serious flashback!) I hacked my telephone and wired the audio into the mic in jack on Robie, so everyone I talked to on the phone had a robotic avatar of sorts.
I programmed a sequence for him to wake me up each morning (using his built-in alarm clock) to roll over to my bed side and start yelling at me (in my own voice) to get out of bed. I used to have him hold my police scanner, too, and jacked the audio to the line in. I don't know, I guess everything seemed funnier when the sound was routed through a robot whose mouth lit up as a VU meter. That, and being able to turn his eyes on as headlights was pretty cool, too. I really tinkered with that thing, too. I figured out how to route my voice to his command channel, what pitch to shriek at to emulate commands from the remote, and how to cut the power to the remote with the voice channel open and use him to listen to neighbors' cordless phones. Man, I have been a geek for a long, long time.
[/me slams phone down on the beach and exits frame right]
Intelligent Life on Earth
Disney finally remembered they have a theme park in California.
Nevermind. Lucky's going to florida. Now the only attractions are the peeling paint and the disintegrating rides.
-transiit
Going to be much much harder to push him over with that cart on the back.
I've left to find myself. If you happen to see me, please, keep me there until I return.
Ian Malcolm: "Oooh, ahhh, that's how this all starts. But later there's running and screaming."
Looks like the puppetry is really good. Looks like there's a giant mass of batteries in the cart. Sounds like the motors are really noisy - atleast when the head turns.
For a real walking robot dinosaur take a look at Troody.
Lucky has been removed from DCA. He will be making an appearance at the Natural History Museum tomorrow (Thursday) morning, and then he's "going home." We're not sure if "going home" means back to Glendale (Imagineering) or as rumored to the Animal Kingdom park in Florida. There are no more DCA appearances scheduled. This is all subject to change, but that's the latest as of today.
Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
It's possible they were canned, but I really doubt it. The trash can was doing more than just talking, it was actually interacting with people. Commenting on their food, talking about their outfits, etc. If it was just doing simple one liners, I could see them being canned. But they comments were fairly insightful as to the individual situation.
I don't care who is controlling it, how noisey it is or what tricks they are using. Thats one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Suspend your belief and think like a child for a few minutes then go back and watch the movies again. Wow.
Mechanical Engineering Magazine (from ASME) has a couple of related articles on Disney Animatronics, for those interested:
Wild mouse in the funhouse (2000)
The fantastical meets the practical (1997)
What ARe the thinking? Didn't they see what happened with the Ichy and Scratchy Land robots on the Simpsons?
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