Computational Design of Mechanical Characters

DisneyResearchHub
5 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2013–2026
YouTube
3.9M views · 13 years ago · demo · intermediate · evergreen

A Disney Research video for a SIGGRAPH 2013 paper on computational design of mechanical characters. It shows software that generates gears and linkages to make a figure move along a path the designer draws.

HN cites it as the example of software that turns a drawn motion into a working mechanism.

“You draw a path, and it generates the linkages required to match that path as closely as possible.”
Computational & parametric design
#disneyresearch#siggraph#linkages#animatronics#computationaldesign

10 comments from Hacker News

0
@0-_-02020 · in “Disney unveiled an animatronic robot with the same gaze as humans”
Here's a good Siggraph 2013 demo about "Computational Design of Mechanical Characters" from Disney: ▶ this video
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h
@hugodutka2019 · in “Computational Design of Mechanical Characters (2013)”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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m
@mhb2018 · in “Computational Design of Mechanical Characters”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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J
@JetSpiegel2015 · in “Computational Design of Mechanical Characters”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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n
@nealabq2013 · in “Computational Design of Mechanical Characters”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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m
@mcphage2026 · in “Show HN: Impossible Machines: declaratively program the physical world”
Disney's research lab did something along these lines some years ago for making a point follow a path. You draw a path, and it generates the linkages required to match that path as closely as possible. They've had a lot of follow-up work since, but I remember this video for it: ▶ this video
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d
@downboots2025 · in “Expanding Racks [video]”
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
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v
@vinchuco2016 · in “Spirograph Simulator (2014)”
May be slightly off-topic, but for a creative feat using similar mechanisms, see ▶ this video
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@vinchuco2015 · in “507 Mechanical Movements (1868)”
It would be really graet to see this combined with ▶ this video
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d
@dfbrown2013 · in “Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements”
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
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