Zachary Hymowitz - Big Al Animatronic

Big Al is a four-function figure depicting the mascot for the Univ. of Alabama, in a style inspired by "It's a Small World." I lead a team of five to bring the project to life.

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Concept Development

I chose this as the club's first project for multiple reasons.

First, I wanted something easily presentable to showcase at my university's club expo in January to recruit new members. For that reason, I chose to do an animatronic figure rather than a ride concept, as a moving singing figure is more eye-catching amongst hoards of people compared with storyboards and scale models. Secondly, I chose to model it off my school's mascot to give the club a mascot and to draw greater interest at the club expo by catering to the interests and pride of the student body. Thirdly, I chose to model the figure after "It's A Small World," as it would allow us to start at the beginning of animatronics with something simple, connect with club members' fondness for the Disney parks, and allow us to build at full scale rather than at a smaller scale, as would be the case if we were trying to depict something grown-human-sized.

The team developed the concept of the figure's motion to be centered around throwing a football. To figure out how to achieve this motion in a way consistent with the style of "It's A Small World," I watched videos of every iteration of the attraction from around the world. The figure that served as the largest inspiration for our figure's motion was the Australian Aboriginal Chief from the Paris version of the ride. From this, it was decided that both of his arms would move together clockwise, and his head would rotate, keeping his eyes on the ball. The head and arm motions are achieved via a gearbox containing four bevel gears, which is powered by a single servo. In addition to the football-related motions, the figure is able to blink, move its mouth, and move its trunk.

An early concept sketch drawn at 1:1 scale

A painting that was used as reference

Concept created later in the project

Design

CAD designs were made using SolidWorks.

Early CAD of the Body and Legs

Final CAD of the Body and Legs

Early head design, with the trunk pivoting partway through

Intermediate head design

Final Head design

Head Assembly in SOlidWorks featuring three servos (blue), Mouth flap (pink), Eye support base (red), blink mechanism, and trunk (with brass axis)

The Head and hands were digitally handsculpted in VR using Adobe Medium

Motion Mechanisms

A sketch I drew of my concept for how the mouth will move. The mechanism takes advantage of the properties of the figure's finishing material, a stretch fabric. WHen it is time for the figure to close its mouth, a thin piece of material will be lifted, stretching fabric from the lower lip up to the upper lip, leading to the appearance of a closed mouth.

A video test of the Blink mechanism. IN the final version the eye lid will be held open by a spring. When it is time to blink a servo will pull down the eye lid.