Animatronic Dinosaur

Project: Control system to provide realistic movements for an animated figure

It's not every day that we are approached to work on a model of a pre-historic creature. So when this project came along, it was quite a challenge.

Our client needed a control system for an animatronic model of the recently discovered Utahraptor.  The client's customer was a major Natural History Museum, so the movements needed to be as realistic and natural as possible.

When we were approached, the project was already running late, and the deadline was looming. The brief was to produce all the control circuitry, write the software, test and deliver a working product within 2 weeks. Few design houses would have taken on such an onerous task, but at Project, we thrive on difficult jobs.

Within the specified time a 24-channel control system powered by an industrial PC was designed, sourced and built to the customers exact requirements. A program was written which allowed up to 1000 individual movements to be specified, thus making it possible to achieve the complex sequences required.

The entire electronic system was delivered and installed on time, and is now entertaining and educating numerous visitors on a daily basis.

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