Externally Actuated Animatronic Figure with Remote Center Rods
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current animatronic figure technologies face challenges in recreating the dynamic movements and small, intricate shapes of characters from animated films and television programs, as they struggle with size constraints and the need for realistic motion dynamics, especially for small figures that require high accelerations and velocities, which existing robotic mechanisms cannot adequately address.
Innovation Solution
The development of a robotic drive assembly that externally actuates animatronic figures using rods with miniature wrists, allowing for synchronized movement of multiple components, such as hands and a head, with remote centers of rotation hidden behind a screen or wall, providing up to twenty-one degrees of freedom for flexible and realistic motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If conventional robotic mechanisms are used to create small animatronic figures, then the figure size can be reduced, but the figure cannot achieve high accelerations and velocities required for realistic motion dynamics
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a robotic drive assembly as an intermediary system between the control system and the small figure. This external drive assembly with rods and miniature wrists acts as a mediator that can generate high accelerations and velocities externally, allowing the small figure to achieve realistic motion dynamics without requiring large internal actuators.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces internal mechanical actuators within the small figure with an external robotic drive assembly. This substitution allows the figure to maintain its small size while still achieving high-speed motion through externally applied forces rather than internal mechanical systems.
2Ease of operation
If internal actuators are placed within the small figure, then motion control is improved, but the internal space and volume required for housing these mechanisms increases
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic drive assembly serves as an external intermediary that provides motion control without requiring internal actuators. The rods and miniature wrists transmit motion from the external drive system to the figure's components, eliminating the need for internal motor housing and reducing the figure's volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the actuation mechanisms from the internal structure of the figure and places them in an external robotic drive assembly. This extraction removes the volume burden of internal actuators while maintaining motion control capability through the external rod-and-wrist system.
3Ease of manufacture
If robotic mechanisms are exposed, then the actuation system is visible, but the aesthetic appearance and realism of the animatronic figure is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the robotic mechanisms locally invisible through strategic positioning. The rods are routed through hidden pathways and the miniature wrists are positioned at key mounting points on the figure where they can be concealed or blended with the figure's anatomy, allowing the mechanisms to be functionally present but aesthetically invisible.
Solution Approach 2:
The miniature wrists act as intermediaries that connect the external rods to the figure's movable components in a way that conceals the mechanical connection. These wrists are designed to be mounted at key mounting points on the figure where they can be hidden or integrated into the figure's appearance, mediating between the visible figure and the hidden drive mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for externally actuating an animatronic figure. The system including a first robotic mechanism configured as a remote center mechanism for rotating a first rod about a first remote center point. The first rod is attached to a first driven part of the figure with the first remote center point spaced apart from the figure. The system includes a second robotic mechanism rotating a second rod about a second remote center point. The second rod is attached to the second driven part of the animatronic figure, and the second remote center point is spaced apart from the animatronic figure. The system includes a third robotic mechanism rotating a third rod about a remote center point, with the third rod attached to a third driven part of the figure, and the three robotic mechanisms are concurrently operable via a computer-based controller to provide the figure with twenty-one degrees of freedom.