IMAG News

Gramps and the Kid: National Animatronic Contest Winners

For a third time, members of the Lake Region High School Technology Student Association (TSA) chapter brought home the First Place trophy in Animatronics from the recent TSA National Conference and Competition held this summer in Dallas, Texas.

The Technology Student Association is dedicated to promoting the study of technology, engineering and related subjects and includes over 150,000 middle and high school students in 2,000 schools spanning 48 states. TSA is supported by educators, parents and business leaders who believe in the need for a technologically literate society. The Lake Region TSA chapter is an extension of iMAG, the innovative career academy at Lake Region that focuses on Marketing and Graphic Design. Steven Chayt, and Tresa Warner are the iMAG instructors and TSA advisors.

An animatronic is a robotic device that communicates, entertains, informs, and demonstrates a topic, idea, or concept. This year, the Lake Region Animatronic team created "Getting Connected with Cell Phones, starring Gramps and the Kid" . The purpose of the animatronic was to introduce younger students and others to the history of telecommunications, with an emphasis on cell phone history, and to provide tips on cell phone etiquette. The characters include “Gramps”, a vintage cell phone fashioned after the first cell phone invented by Martin Cooper in the 1970's and “The Kid” an imaginary smart phone inspired by the Apple iPhone®, Blackberry®, and Droid Galaxy®. The animatronic was designed to be installed in a wall of a science or technology museum, with a small audience standing within a few feet of the exhibition space. A large button, touch sensor, is provided to start the show. The animatronic includes a number of moving parts, including synchronized mouth and eye movements and a hydraulic powered antenna. The smart phone features a simulated screen display provided by a rear projected slide show.

The Lake Region Animatronic team including Brandon Cubert, Meghnan Cubert, Daniel Norrel and Ben Taylor worked for months after school and on weekends to design, fabricate and program the device. They also recorded and edited the sound track, designed the dedicated slide show, and produced a notebook that documented the project. The Animatronic competition is considered by many to be the most challenging TSA event because it demands such a wide range of skills. Team member, Daniel Norrell, was also recently elected State Secretary at the Florida TSA Conference in April 2011.