Aflac Duck

RarebirdRarebird ✭
in Animatronics
Hello
I am a new student to stan winston and was curious if any of the instructors could provide some information about the eye mechanisms inside of the aflac duck. 
Thanks
Thom

Comments

  • Tom LucaTom Luca ✭✭✭
    The eyes might've been cable controlled? Simple techniques are always thought of or tried first before more costly complex techniques are. At least at our studio. 


  • Matt WinstonMatt Winston Admin
    Hi @Rarebird , welcome to our creative community! We passed your question along to former Stan Winston Studio mechanical designer Richard Landon, and he had this to say:

    It was basically a trim-down of a traditional eye mechanism. As I recall, the eyeballs actually did not move; the lids were linkage-driven in pairs, with upper lids always moving together and lower lids always moving together. The linkages went to two pulleys that were in the center of the head, with drive links going to the lids, as mentioned above. Those pulleys then used high-strength fishing lines running through cable housings to go down to pulleys mounted on servos in the body. These servos were controlled via radio control. The jaw was a similar pulley to a linkage connection that opened and closed the jaw, with another pair of cables and housings running to a third servo in the body. Hope this helps! - Richard
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