Design and Implementation of an Interactive Animatronic System for Guest Response Analysis

Abstract

For nearly half a century, animatronic figures have provided entertainment in the theme park industry by simulating life-like animations and sounds. These figures enhance the storytelling experience by stimulating visual and audio senses among guests. Animatronics must be identified as human partners to establish status for dynamic interactions for enhanced acceptance and effectiveness as socially-interactive agents. An animatronic dragon, Kronos, has been designed, fabricated and implemented with human-identification sensors. The primary sensor input comes from an infrared camera, the PrimeSense Carmine, and includes an Arduino Mega 2560 as the center of control. Using the data from the depth camera, people are identified by approximating a person’s skeletal information. The program, written with a Java-based language, tracks a human body, or bodies, within the field of view of the camera. Joint locations, in the tracked human, can be accessed for specific usage by the system. Joints include the head, torso, shoulders, elbows, hands, knees and feet. Inside the microcontroller, logic and calibration techniques were used to translate the coordinate data into usable data for the motors and actuators. The motion capabilities of the dragon include a 4 degrees-of-freedom neck, moving wings, tail, jaw, blinking eyes and sound effects. These capabilities instigate a change in the tracked human, which establishes the closed-loop cycle of human to animatronic interactions. The animatronic system features passive and interactive modes. Both of these modes were utilized during test demonstrations with guest volunteers. This research presents everything from the concept to the final analysis of guest feedback. This includes the aesthetic components from sculptures, molds, and castings to the mechanical design, fabrication, and assembly for the mechanisms installed in the figure. The control testing, calibration, and implementation are covered along with the actuator sizing and specifications. The guest feedback was acquired and analyzed to form conclusions on responses for passive and interactive environments