What a cool collaboration! Marcia Frank and BRAVO invited our BASE Camp Brooks VEX Robotics team to create remote controlled tentacles for Ursula the sea witch in their summer production of The Little Mermaid.
Under the direction of Don Robinson and his coaching team, VEX students created four robotic tentacles, which were inserted into the fabric of Ursula’s costume, along with a motor and cables for each arm. A micro-controller brainbox inside a pouch was sewn into the back of her dress. The whirring sound of the motors working gave Ursula’s character an eerie appearance. At times, the tentacles even startled some of the actors!
Student engineers Cyrus Murray, Peter Bosco and Kenzo Murray operated the robotic tentacles during the performances. Thank you BRAVO, for partnering with us!