Animatronics - History

History

Animatronics was developed by Walt Disney in the early 1960s. Essentially, an animatronic puppet is a figure that is animated by means of electromechanical devices. Early examples were found at the 1964 World's Fair in the New York Hall of Presidents and Disneyland. In the Hall of Presidents, Lincoln, with all the gestures of a statesman, gave the Gettysburg address. Body language and facial motions were matched to perfection with the recorded speech. The abbreviated term originally coined by Walt Disney as Audio-Animatronics, which is used to describe the mechanized characters, can be actually seen in the various forms as far back as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Automata Lion, which was theoretically built to present lilies to the King of France during one of his visits. It has now been developed as a career which may require combined talents in mechanical engineering, casting/sculpting, control technologies, electrical/electronic, radio control and airbrushing. Long before digital effects appeared, animatronics were making cinematic history. Another place that animatronics are used are in the sight and sound theatre in Lancaster, PA where numerous different animatronics are built for special use for the specific performances done.