0-_-0Nov 2020Recommends
Here's a good Siggraph 2013 demo about "Computational Design of Mechanical Characters" from Disney: ▶ this video
in “Disney unveiled an animatronic robot with the same gaze as humans” · View on HN
Computational Design of Mechanical Characters
Computational Design of Mechanical Characters on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2013–2025.
DisneyResearchHub
Open on YouTubedemo · intermediate · evergreen
A Disney Research SIGGRAPH 2013 demo of an interactive system that lets non-experts design animated mechanical characters. The user sketches motion curves and the system generates optimized mechanisms and gear trains for 3D printing.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as an example of computational mechanism design, especially in threads on gears, linkages and animatronics.
- people recommended it
- 1
- separate months
- 1
- strong recommendations
- 0
- discussed on HN
- 2013–2025
“Here's a good Siggraph 2013 demo about "Computational Design of Mechanical Characters" from Disney”
What HN commenters said
3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
downbootsJun 2025Cites it
Is there a standard way to formally describe a mechanical machine? Similar to how a .obj file defines a 3d shape? Some standard way of describing piece types, interactions, properties, movement ranges, etc. Then one could have a computer use the format to learn/find interesting configurations based on a catalog like [link] especially if paired with simulation like done in this Disney research project using gears and linkages ▶ this video
in “Expanding Racks [video]” · View on HN
dfbrownAug 2013Cites it
This reminded me of a recent paper on automatically designing animated mechanical characters. Some of these movements could be used to incorporate different kinds of animations into these characters. ▶ this video
in “Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements” · View on HN
Topics & tags
Mechanical & precision engineering3D printing, CNC & maker projectsComputer graphics & renderingdisney researchmechanismsgears3d printingsiggraph