IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2008 - 23
WALL*E is
could project our collective anthropomorphized ideas of what a young
dinosaur would be like," Short says.
"Because of Lucky's physical size when
compared to our guests, we intuitively
knew that a facial expression that was
nonthreatening was needed to counter
his scale. After all, the goal was a creature that guests would interact with, and
not run away from."
Emphasizing What Occurs Naturally
point in allowing
ters talk and joke
a free-roaming
WALL*E's personwith the visitors
Audio-Animatronics
ality to shine."
who gather around
character. He might be
To get him just
them, asking and
seen wandering through
right, Imagineers
answering spontaneous questions,
Tomorrowland or make a started by talking
with the movie's
getting the audired carpet appearance
animators, designence to participate
at a film premiere.
ers, and directors, and
in their "experithen worked from the
ments," and referring to
film, images, and concept
people by name.
sketches to make models and
WALL*E is able to interact
breadboards-prototypes of the electronone-on-one with visitors and objects in
ic circuits-to fine-tune the robot's look
his immediate environment. "The
and functions. Then, the building began.
robot can move around, meet people,
WALL*E's body is made mostly of aluplay with objects, and explore the
minum because it's very lightweight,
world around him much like the
with light-emitting diodes in the front to
WALL*E in the film," Jones says. "The
indicate his charge level. Speakers allow
eyes and hands are a major focal
him to say his name and
make other sounds, and a single board computer runs a
real-time operating system.
WALL*E uses as much
onboard computing power as
a typical laptop, says Jones.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY
What they achieved is a creature who
has a cuteness and sweetness about
him, who's charming and often
appears to smile-"an attribute you
see in the jaw structures of living alligators, crocodiles, some lizards and
many renderings depicting our best
theories of what dinosaurs
might have looked like,"
Short says. "We simply
emphasized what occurs
naturally."
The eyes were especially
tricky. "We went around and
around with them: Should
they be more realistic, raptor-like as depicted in many
films or more friendly, akin
to what we are familiar with
in many other animal
species?" says Short. "In the
end, we settled on something
that we thought would connect with our Disney park
guests."
The Muppet Mobile Lab,
also remote controlled, is
equally as impressive. Appearing early in 2007, Dr. Bunsen
Honeydew began riding
around Disney parks in a silver vehicle with flashing lights
and water sprayers, while his
assistant, Beaker, pedals an
attached bicycle that appears
to power the car. Based on the
puppets created by The Jim
The Muppet Mobile Lab operates via a remote control that
Henson Company, these allows Dr. Bunson Honeydew and his assistant Beaker to flash
Audio-Animatronics charac- lights, spray water, and joke with visitors.
SUMMER 2008
Teamwork: Robotics +
Entertainment + Aesthetics
In the end, Audio-Animatronics is about teamwork.
Bringing characters like
Lucky and WALL*E to life,
blending robotics with
entertainment and aesthetics, is the result of a collaborative effort. "Walt Disney
Imagineering has more than
140 disciplines involved in
the development process,
including artists, engineers,
animators, sound specialists, special effects designers, writers, and many
more," says Jones. "Audiences today expect AudioAnimatronics characters to
look like real Disney magic."
-Heather Wax is a freelance writer living in Brookline, Massachusetts.
IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE
23
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2008
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