Old video from 1963 of Walt Disney excitedly demoing some animatronic birds - General

Stumbled upon this lovely gem. He's so excited about it! In hindsight, not sure if it's 1963 because he mentions one of the birds being from Mary Poppins, which was 1964. Either Mary Poppins wasn't done filming at the time or there's a date error in the video description. Still neat. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkRL0PwqRFE[/media]

Holy cow that's awesome.

Birds have always had some special significance for the Disney company. The first animatronics they produced were the Tiki Room birds. And then, somehow, within a year, they jumped straight from birds to Abraham Lincoln.

The 60s were a magical time of innovation.

[QUOTE=woolio1;47648401]And then, somehow, within a year, they jumped straight from birds to Abraham Lincoln.[/QUOTE] Similar skeletal structures.

the pirates of the Caribbean got way more advanced, OP should look at that if he get's fascinated by audio animatronics. I can't find the radial disks I once saw. but I did find this [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o3b-SjAtkM[/media]

[QUOTE=Ithon;47648982]the pirates of the Caribbean got way more advanced, OP should look at that if he get's fascinated by audio animatronics. I can't find the radial disks I once saw. but I did find this [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o3b-SjAtkM[/media][/QUOTE] If that scene had lights going on and off, i would count it as a psychological horror flick.

What's cool about Disney animatronics nowadays is how many fail-checks they have to prevent anyone from being injured or to prevent further damage to the machine. See what happens to this Mr. Potatohead when it drops its ear at 0:53. [video=youtube;fqmEDNUpe4E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqmEDNUpe4E[/video] It immediately realizes this and stays idle until an Imagineer can fix the problem.

[QUOTE=Robman8908;47648505]Similar skeletal structures.[/QUOTE] [t]http://i.imgur.com/p5YFohT.png[/t]

[QUOTE=Snickerdoodle;47649099]What's cool about Disney animatronics nowadays is how many fail-checks they have to prevent anyone from being injured or to prevent further damage to the machine. See what happens to this Mr. Potatohead when it drops its ear at 0:53. [video=youtube;fqmEDNUpe4E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqmEDNUpe4E[/video] It immediately realizes this and stays idle until an Imagineer can fix the problem.[/QUOTE] Smart thinking, but if I saw that in real life I'd assume Mr Potato Head had a fucking stroke

[QUOTE=Water-Marine;47649167]Smart thinking, but if I saw that in real life I'd assume Mr Potato Head had a fucking stroke[/QUOTE] he got stage fright

I wonder how these work. Are they purely mechanical with control linkages? Transistors did exist back then, although they weren't especially cheap, and servomotors were nowhere near small enough to fit in something like that. Do the design documents still exist?

[QUOTE=QwertySecond;47650133]I wonder how these work. Are they purely mechanical with control linkages? Transistors did exist back then, although they weren't especially cheap, and servomotors were nowhere near small enough to fit in something like that. Do the design documents still exist?[/QUOTE] electromechanical, it's all relays and pneumatics. nothing else at the time was smooth enough to produce a good effect. even today it's mostly relays and pneumatics, servos are too noisy and expensive. [editline]3rd May 2015[/editline] if it's something really big like a torso or an arm (at the shoulder) they usually use hydraulic actuators

[QUOTE=Ithon;47648982]the pirates of the Caribbean got way more advanced, OP should look at that if he get's fascinated by audio animatronics. I can't find the radial disks I once saw. but I did find this [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o3b-SjAtkM[/media][/QUOTE] he needs his booze

[QUOTE=Ithon;47648982]the pirates of the Caribbean got way more advanced, OP should look at that if he get's fascinated by audio animatronics. I can't find the radial disks I once saw. but I did find this [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o3b-SjAtkM[/media][/QUOTE] he's at a fucking rave [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0mbfbp9c98[/media]

"Hasta la vista" That bird is the progenitor of Skynet.

Little did Walt know every night the animatronics go outside to murder more organics and harvest their organs, no seriously I legit hate animatronics.