page_title: Animatronics
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Animatronics / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: The always awesome Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland at Disneyland.
context_page_description: Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions.
  Before the term "animatronics" became common, they were usually referred to as "robots". Since then, robots have become known as more practical programmable machines that do not necessarily resemble living creatures. Robots designed to convincingly resemble humans are known as "androids".
  Animatronics is a multi-disciplinary field which integrates puppetry, anatomy and mechatronics. Animatronic figures can be implemented using both computer control and human control, including teleoperation. Motion actuators are often used to imitate muscle movements and create realistic motions in limbs. Figures are usually covered with body shells and flexible skins made of hard and soft plastic materials and finished with details like colors, hair and feathers and other components to make the figure more lifelike.
context_section_description: 1939: Sparko, The Robot Dog, pet of Elektro, performs in front of the public but Sparko, unlike many depictions of robots in that time, represented a living animal, thus becoming the very first modern day animatronic character, along with an unnamed horse which was reported to gallop realistically.  The animatronic galloping horse was also on display at the 1939 World's Fair, in a different exhibit than Sparko's., 1939 New York World's Fair
  1961: Heinrich Ernst develops the MH-1, a computer-operated mechanical hand.
  1961: Walt Disney coins the term "Audio-Animatronics" and his WED Enterprises team begins developing modern animatronic technology.
  1963: The first Audio-Animatronics created by Disney, the Enchanted Tiki Birds of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, debut at Disneyland., Disneyland
  1964: In the film Mary Poppins, animatronic birds are the first animatronics to be featured in a motion picture. The first animatronic figure of a person is created by Disney and is Abraham Lincoln, featured at the Illinois State Pavilion of the 1964 New York World's Fair.
  1968: The first animatronic character at a restaurant is created. Goes by the name Golden Mario and was built by Team Built in 1968.
  1977: Chuck E. Cheese's (then known as Pizza Time Theatre) opens its doors, as the first restaurant with animatronics as an attraction.
  1980: ShowBiz Pizza Place opens with the Rock-afire Explosion
  1982: Ben Franklin is the first animatronic figure to walk up a set of stairs.
  1989: The first A-100 animatronic is developed for The Great Movie Ride attraction at the Disney-MGM Studios' to represent The Wicked Witch of the West.
  1993: The largest animatronic figure ever built is the T. rex for the movie, Jurassic Park.
  1998: Tiger Electronics begins selling Furby, an animatronic pet with over 800 English phrases or Furbish and the ability to react to its environment., Vernon Hills, Illinois
  May 11, 1999: Sony releases the AIBO animatronics pet., Tokyo, Japan
  2005: Engineered arts produced the first version of their animatronic actor, RoboThespian
  2008: Mr. Potato Head at the Toy Story exhibit features lips with superior range of movement to any other animatronic figure previously., Disney's Hollywood Studios
  October 31, 2008 – July 1, 2009: The Abraham Lincoln animatronic character is upgraded to incorporate autonomatronic technology., The Hall of Presidents
  September 28, 2009: Disney develops Otto, the first interactive figure that can hear, see and sense actions in the room., D23 Expo
caption: The Enchanted Tiki Room
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