RNZ Interview Robot Dolphin - Made by Edge Innovations - This is an animatronic!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- In 2019, my Chinese business partner and I were asked to work on an aquarium project. For those of you who know me as an AR game designer, - I actually mean real aquariums with real fish and water.
So, I am very excited to show you what we have been secretly working on with our partner Edge Innovations in San Francisco. In fact, I'll be secretly gleeful if some of you will look at this video and get upset because... What you see in the video is not a real dolphin!
We contacted Edge Innovations in the US, the only ones in the world who can make stuff like this happen right now, and asked if they could help us prove to the world that realistic-looking animatronic dolphins, whales, sharks or marine dinosaurs if you like, can be developed and will look so realistic that they can fool the audience.
You are looking at an early prototype and more work will need to be done. We can get the animals to run for 10 hours without charging, with a 10-year lifespan living in saltwater together with live fish!
This video was filmed as part of a client demonstration of what sort of entertainment could be put together for an audience using animatronic dolphins, Belugas, Orcas or even a Great White. Animatronics can work all day long, don't need food and don't mind taking endless selfies with visitors. We believe this approach to themed entertainment represents a humane and sustainable future!
Our new company Eutopia Ltd is looking for investors who want to come on board early to do good in the world, make a difference that also has a nice ROI.
It's time to phase out marine animals and replace them with animatronics who won't mind being attractions.
If you want to know more about the project, email me at melanie@geoargames.com
Edge Innovations has launched a website about the dolphin www.edgefx.com...
The RNZ article can be found here:
www.rnz.co.nz/...
www.rnz.co.nz/...
A few minutes in on this podcast
wwdbam.com/epi...
www.goodnet.or...
interestingeng...
www.theguardia...
www.gizmodo.co...
Just imagine how many dolphins the people that made this will save and maybe just maybe they can create an orca animatronic
It's not a dolphin.....it's a fucking robot! Tell the kid....it's NOT real.
@@therepublicofcynica everyone knows. What are you on about.
The Republic of Sardonica and Cynica. what’s your problem dude?
@@therepublicofcynica fucktard we know it's a robot . Go back to your miserable dirt hole in the ground and stay there. No one needs your ignorance
I know right then we can finally release all the dolphins and whales right back into their plastic clogged food depleted mercury filled environment! Yay progress
I just wonder how an actual dolphin would react to it
A real dolphin knows it is not real because of their Echolocation ability. Roger Holzberg, who did the first animatronic test with this dolphin back in 1999 says, a younger dolphin saw it as a toy and wanted to test out what it could do but it knew it was just a « puppet ». Other animals like seals apparently reacted with aggression
@@geoargames fascinating
why isnt there anything about the process of making the robot dolphin, this seems to good to be true
Cause we would have to disclose the IP that Edge Innovation spent 30 years developing
I read about this...in a Detroit become human magazine
oh shi-
Dude
I know Im pretty off topic but do anyone know of a good place to stream newly released tv shows online ?
@Forest Rhys Flixportal =)
@Bode Amir thanks, I signed up and it seems to work =) I really appreciate it!!
This is amazing... I hope you can build more so there are no more live captures or breeding of dolphins in captivity.
It's not going to happen and for good reason.
You mean the having cetaceans in Captivity? Yes, the upside of the pandemic!
@@anamccown3881 evidence.
@@jiimmyyy this is a real dolphin. this is a scam
Wow. No more captive dolphins please. This is much better !
If only they didnt cost roughly 60 mill. This is a great idea though. I dont care, I'd swim with a robot if it meant saving at least 1 real life
"this" cannot jump out of the and do other tricks.
V xx yes you are right in a way. If we want a dolphin to jump out of the water we have to build it for that purpose. Traditional show dolphins will also only perform 1 or 2 tricks each and be specially trained to do those
Ya that (and all around of that) broke my hearth...😭
Your sound crazy
What a great idea!! I would much prefer this kind of unreal attraction than to have real live dolphins stolen from the wild and dumped in what is essentially a bath tub for the rest of their days as a prisoner. They go blind in those pools because of the chlorine. So I support this kind of interaction because it is not imprisoning a fellow being. Great work! #EmptyTheTanks
This message needs to be distributed worldwide. A very great idea, respect.
This is amazing! thank you so much for this! I hope you are able to do this in a near future for every other animal.
Animals don't deserve to be in zoos or aquariums, you guys can give them the freedom they deserve and also teach people about animals.
Thank you again.
And it could make Jurassic Park real 😅😂
@@joonaromer5302 lets just hope they dont make the robots aggressive XD
Something feels off about this. I heard about this today on the BBC show "Click". They only showed a few seconds of footage from this video. So we are to believe a company has produced possibly the most realistic looking robot/animatronic animal so far and all the information available online is this weird promotional video and lots of articles all linking to this video. The campany's website seems weird too.
Why has a company that's worked on 18 feature films, some of them very well known, had their site designed by a freelance web designer? and not a very good one.
Why is this weird promotional video the only footage that exists?
Why are there no details on their site about their other creations, there's only this dolphin and a few random movie photos.
This video just seems like a really strange way to show this off.
Agreed. This doesn't pass the sniff test
Agreed as well - what am I missing
www.edgefx.com/real-time-animatronics This might help. Happy to answer questions if I can. What you won't know is that the video was never filmed as a promotional video. It was recorded for the clients only and then we decided to release it later to see what response we would get. The dolphin in the video is not autonomous yet and that is were viewers misunderstand what they are looking at. We are in the middle of developing an autonomous dolphin which takes more than 2 years and a HUGE amount of money. Someone has to fund the R&D and the tech has been around for a while. It's just that it's not mainstream cause it's expensive to make. I hope this helps. If you look closely at the video you will see a few frames with a cable in the water. This dolphin was remote controlled on the day because we were doing a demo for clients only. The dolphin can run on batteries as well but we ran out of time. We only had the swimming pool hired for a few hours and were under tight constraints. All the clients were concerned about were if the dolphin would LOOK real which it did
Yeah, this reeks of putting the cart before the horse. Slick marketing to get investors, and news orgs worldwide are falling for it. Geez, there's more news that is worthy of reporting without having to resort to what is, essentially, free advertising for a start-up company with a semi-viable product.
More footage here
th-cam.com/video/B8-aeP7F_SA/w-d-xo.html
It shows the interior of the "dolphin", and yes, it's a robot.
These animals have no emotion it takes all the joy and magic out of dolphin shows
It seems you missed the point or you’re just selfish in general. This is to avoid having animals in captivity. Whatever emotion you think you get from a animal at a zoo is probably from being taken from their family.
@@zyralove4540 personally I think it’s fine to keep dolphins in captivity but only if they have the proper care so I’m not just saying this based off emotions
Your company's idea is the best. Please make a baby penguin robot, a baby rabbit robot, and a baby dog robot. So it soothes people's loneliness. Please I beg you.
That's truly amazing. You should be very proud of your work. Hopefully this can help to some degree with using captive dolphins in entertainment
Not just dolphins. Whale Sharks and beluga Whales as well ;)
@@geoargames you guys should make the blowhole open so the dolphin can breathe like a real dolphin
Great! Wonderful! Close the Delfinarium with life animals now!
This idea seems very clever. It’ll definitely be much better without having to make the live animals feel uncomfortable.
Incredible.....unimaginably real...FANTASTIC.
"I got to swim with........well.... I got to swim with... the dolphin" lol
I am completely speechless! This is the most amazing technology ! A Dolphins Dream! I can't imagine what my students would think if a Dolphin came to swim with my Mermaid Camps at one of our resorts here in California! I am beyond excited because for the first time there is HOPE that one day all dolphins will swim free! No more captivity! Only real Dolphin Sanctuaries to exist for injured dolphins ( like Hope and Winter for example at the Clearwater Aquarium) in hope to be released back to their families, their Pod! Edge Innovations is the Voice for the Ocean! Thankyou to all of the brilliant minds involved in a DREAM and bringing animatronic dolphins to life!
HB Love, Mermaid Flower
www.edgefx.com/real-time-animatronics This might help. Happy to answer questions if I can
Hello Melanie - This is magical and beautiful project. Let us hope we create a way to entertain and teach about the our world ocean in a humane and sustainable way.
Hello Mr. Holzberg, you two created this dolphins together, right? After your initial project from 2009? I saw another robotic dolphin in a video from 2009 on your channel! Will you two be creating more?
@@MrsTavington That is he hope and dream - yes.
It's not a dolphin.....it's a fucking robot! Tell the kid....it's NOT real.
@@therepublicofcynica everyonr knows. What are you on about.
I write fiction about dolphins and always thought there could never be a film of my fictional stories, since I would never allow them to be filmed using captive dolphins. So the only option was expensive animation, but this is presenting the possibility of another way.
I'm delighted about this for other reasons too. It could spell the end to so much captive suffering. I also like that it was built by NZers with co-operation with experts in the USA and that China is so interested in them. I'm sure they would soon manufacture their own and there will be the end of captivity.
They used animatronics for Free Willy 1,2 and 3. 2 and 3 were excluselive animatronics.
The department of Defence of every single nation: “interesting”
The Department of Defense in Japan 🇯🇵: 😋🍽😧😔
Plot twist: The girl swimming with the dolphin is ALSO a robot
So many people keep saying this is a real dolphin and that this is a hoax... why don't you film another video with this out of the water, and showing how you use a remote
Amazing!!!
That's incredible !!
Now we need the same thing but with Sharks
"Aquaworld - Boy, have we got a vacation for you.....for you........for you........"
Nice Westworld reference
If that’s an animatronic, I’m Lady Gaga.
www.edgefx.com/real-time-animatronics This might help. Happy to answer questions if I can
lmao.. exactly my thoughts. anyone who thinks the dolphin in this video is a robot needs to stop taking drugs.
AngryRobot87 wtf
If there is an animatronic dolphin why are the static shots overplayed with poor quality cg images. This is just a real dolphin being kept in terrible conditions.
Sorry, we didn't film this for the public and had to cut away whenever it would show clients. That's why there are so many static shots. For more information about the dolphin, have a look at the new website we now have www.edgefx.com/real-time-animatronics This might help. Happy to answer questions if I can
you can literally see the cable leading up to it. Its a remote control lmao. There is no way that its a real dolphin, first of all, just look at the skin and you can tell it’s synthetic, plus there is a ton of other footage of it where it shows how its made too
It seems that you can reconnaissance other countries with this
Yo that's crazy. Bamm now make a realistic great white version. Boom new Jaws Reboot
Better yet they should make realistic life size Megalodon Robot!
I love it and i really hope and pray that they accept this all over the world so no more innocent animals have to suffer unnecessary and turn them back to where they belong in the wild ❤❤❤❤💘💖💖💚💚💕💕💕💕😚😚😙😍😍😘😘😘😘😍😍❤💘💘💘wow i really love it!!!!!
Hopefully this can replace dolphins in captivity
Absolutely not.
Enamie why not? shut tfu
@@javierfrausto3588 because this doesn't replace the breeding programs zoos and marine sanctuaries have to help the dolphin populations. A robot isn't going to save the species. Sit the fuck down.
Enamie Dolphins are not even listed as an endangered species you dumb piece of shit they’re even considered as a plague or invasive species in some areas, the only reason they’re kept in captivity is to entertain people. Read some books
@@javierfrausto3588 I'm sure all those people who rescue marine animals only do so for entertainment.. right ok.
Instead of helping disabled and hurt animals we should just let them die and suffer. Rescue centers are bad because permanately disabled animals have to stay in captivity. You're so moral and right.
I'm very sceptical.This seems like a real one to me.How can we make the difference between "this robot" and a real dolphin ?
Are we going to create westworld's animals ?
that's because it is.
@@vipecrx So Westworld is going to become a reality.
@@raptorblack2269 what I meant is that it is a real dolphin. They haven't done anything in 20 years, there are only a couple of heavily and badly edited videos and haven't made anything other than a dolphin (no beluga or orca, for example). This is a scam.
@@vipecrx Yeah because when i read some articles about this dolphin.It seemed too smooth to be a robot.
@@raptorblack2269 I had an "exchange" with the op somewhere in here. She gave up without giving any proof of anything.
Bravo!!!!❤❤❤
im dying to know even just the basics of how it works, im a kid who loves to design robots and tech and would love to know how they gave this dolphin the illusion if a spine, it could make some of my designs much more realistic and sleek. if anyone has links or tips about this dolphin or anything similar id love to know!
That's the thing though. You're looking at the only footage of this thing. If this is real, then this company has created the most realistic functioning animatronic in history. You'd think that they would reach out and try to pitch the idea to movie companies and theme parks, but nothing yet. No pictures/videos of it being deconstructed, no social media updates, nothing. Idk man seems like a big hoax
Hunter Smith thats what i began to suspect, i only *heard* that it was possibly going to be used in zoos to replace real dolphins but nothing i heard sounded reliable. i mean i dont believe this is a real dolphin because theres just something off about it but i *hope* its real (a real robot i mean) just so i can study it and learn a bit more.
@@jasonkuntzman1185 nope. this is a real dolphin. the company has been unreliable, at best, in explaining the points raised against this video. According to them it has been in existence for 30 years and the only thing they did in that time was make it "wireless". Except there is a wire through most of this video.then there isn't. In the old video you can see it's a rope attached to a carabiner and the divers giving it instructions, etc.
vipecrx i dont want to invalidate your points but where did you get this information? id like to know just so i can see for myself
vipecrx ive also just found a lot of videos of prototypes and even one that show the inside of similar animatronics, one video that had a prototype (the prototype had very loose baggy skin that made it clear it was a robot) said that “edge innovations is working on a new robot dolphin prototype” or something along those lines. it was an old video but again it was a *prototype*
If we can make realistic robot dolphin, we not far from making realistic robot human.. scary stuff
@Geo AR Games what happened to the old video?
What do the inner workings look like?
wow.. just wow. first thing i think of is that now we can avoid keeping dolphins in water prison for fun.. and use these instead and let the real thing live. how much will cost?
So dolphins get better sexbots than we do? The hell?
It look sòoooo reallll that bottle nose dolphin 🐬🤖❗
This is a very great idea! But I was wondering... What about people working there? People charged to feed and take care of the dolphins in captivity? I mean, don't you fear that many of them could not accept this in some way?
If you look at some of the documentaries that have emerged a lot of those trainers and people caring for the animals have been disillusioned because the job wasn't what they thought it would be. They realised that a lot of the methods are unhealthy for the animals and often cruel. Al Jazeera has got a great documentary about the subject that is worth watching. The animatronic dolphin will create new types of jobs. We want to make sure that any entertainment is educational and not misleading about what real animals are like. It's still early days and we are working on the experience design
people can get other jobs, dolphins can't get other lives
In another video I saw a dude controlling it with an RC control, but I'm curious if they can make it fully autonomous.
That is the plan but we need more funding to cover the R&D. It's definitely possible. I think a lot of people underestimate the cost of developing new technology since a huge team is behind the tech. The dolphin skin is hand painted and then you have to teach the dolphin how to move whih thankfully we can record and we will be able to combine with objet recognition etc. Give it time and stay tuned. We're constantly out there hustling for development funds ;D
That’s so amazing
What if all dolphins are actually governments animatronics? Like birds.
It's not a dolphin.....it's a fucking robot! Tell the kid....it's NOT real.
Everyone knows. What are you on about.
0:56 I’m sorry kid 😥 you didn’t 🥺
how do people buy these?
So when can I buy one?
Is that a real dolphin
Might be used as a war gun.
Calling dingo on this one. Show us the bits and bolts!
We coming to an end of our time, androids gonna take over.... 🙃
crrrrrrrr-zoom-zoom-zoom-(obviously recorded dolphin sounds)-zoom-zoom
La historia de Pinocho?
Make an orca!!!
Check out the making of the movie Free Willy😎. fb.watch/bbYf6xR_QZ/
Spoiler alert, Willy and his family pod were never real orcas throughout the film.
This is some 30 years ago tech, imagine the next level now that can be done!
This is such a short sighted solution to bigger problem of ocean pollution and depletion it's laughable. People are so into freeing the dolphins when they don't realise how uninhabitable the ocean is becoming year after year. It's like realeasing a bunch of prisoners into a bigger building that's also on fire. People will counter argue that it's better to die free but it's actually better to not die at all. How about we take the money that went into developing this robot and put it towards ocean conservation, so when we do free the dolphins they actually have a clean place to go.
プール場に本物に見えるイルカがいるぞ！(*º ﾛ º *)!!
They never proved it’s a robot... how is the comment section so gullible???
This looks amazing but there's something odd about this video
What is it?
the fact that it is a real animal?
Mi perro también es un robot. Demuéstrame lo contrario.
Snapchat took me here.
This is stranger
No pictures of the insides at all, the company doesn't seem to have a website (the special fx one is outdated and makes no mention of this), there is a clear lack of mentions of the company's name in pretty much all the reports but always to Melanie, there's a new company but her email is still the previous ones domain? Also, a year is nowhere near enough time to create the ai behind such an achievement. I'm calling this one bullshit.
Sorry if you feel we should be moving this along faster. The video was filmed in September 2019 and we are 5 companies collaborating on this which is why you don't find a single website. I am the current spokes person if you have any specific questions. We cannot reveal how the dolphin has been built because it's based on 30+ years of robotic engineering from Edge Innovations. They do have a website if you would like to look them up. www.edgefx.com/
@@geoargames I don't feel anything about this. If anything I said 1 year is nowhere near enough time to create the autonomous system you say it has.
I've looked into it more and traced it back to dru-1. That video shows hints that it was a real dolphin (the diver gesturing to the dolphin when dru-1 was supposed to be RC) with a badly disguised costume.
No major outlets have picked up on this. Also only displayed at world Disney and never at any robotics shows.
The website you gave makes no reference to this "30 year project".
More secretive projects give more info about the underpinnings of their product than this one, even military.
There is nothing on these videos that suggest these are not real animals.
5 companies are working together and all fail to request their names being all over this "amazing achievement"? That's novel.
Again, very few sources and none big or verifiable.
This is a fake.
vipecrx you are correct in the assumption that the first dolphin, DRU, was also created by Edge a Innovations back in 1999. I cannot comment on why Disney didn’t carry on with the dolphin project back then but Roger Holzberg, who is part of our team, was back then the Vice President of Disney and DRU was his idea. So yes, the dolphin you saw is based on that 1st model. The dolphin you see in our video as well as in the video from 1999 has no functioning blow hole and for this performance we decided to run it on a cable which you can see in the water. This dolphin as well as the dolphin from 1999 is controlled by puppeteers which you can see in the 1st video from 1999 but not in this one. This video was only recorded for clients and we then got permission to publish it.
The technology has been around for 20 years and it is disappointing that no one has taken notice of. I was just as surprised. Roger might be happy to provide more information. You are not the first person to think this is fake 😊 look for the cable and there are 1 or 2 frames in the video where you might even spot the puppeteers
@@melanielanglotz the video from 1999 has a functioning blowhole and we can see the diver gesturing instructions to the dolphin. The cable is a leash as it is connected by some sort of carabiner much smaller than the cable. Also, the shots of the controls seem to suggest that every separate motion is a result of a separate input which would be the most archaic control strategy since the 80s.
In your video you say that the robot is autonomous and follows indications given to it and now you're saying it was remote controlled. Apart from discrediting yourself, you have just admitted to having only made it wireless in 20 years. If you had achieved what you say you would have more animals than dolphin. You'd have enough financing to make a whole zoo and you wouldn't be on youtube but on your own private island after selling the ai technology for hundreds of millions.
Let me be clear, if this was an autonomous robot, you'd be more advanced than asimo and Boston dynamics.
Again, this is a fake.
vipecrx www.slashfilm.com/cool-stuff-amazing-interactive-animatronic-dolphin-that-never-found-a-home-in-disney-theme-parks/
Where can I buy one? I need a name and adress :)
Hi, happy to put you on an email list. We are currently raising investment to rollout a larger portfolio. Thanks, email melanie@geoargames.com
And when the cancer cure....
There's a new video that's just been released worth watching which answers a lot of questions I have seen below www.freethink.com/series/just-might-work/robotic-dolphins
ETO nanga Ang pag babago Ng mga Tao sa 2040
This appears to be a real dolphin, kept in an unhealthy environment. Reeks of scam marketing.
You know how to check if it's real or not. Pierce his eye with a needle, that's all.
scary
Okay but where is the robo dolphin ? I couldnt find it through the whole video
www.edgefx.com/real-time-animatronics This might help. Happy to answer questions if I can
Mark Z the dolphin:
th-cam.com/video/HAgbIiQSzEk/w-d-xo.html
Weaponize it
Hello
Where are we on site here?
Can everyone come in and join in? !
Even if now where is Corona virus C - 19? !
Hello
Wo sind wir hir vor Ort ?
Kann da jeder rein kommen und mit machen ? !
Auch wenn jetzt wo Corona virus C - 19 zeit ist ? !
"I never though ide see a Dolphin in real life"
WELL GUESS WHAT KID YOU DIDN'T
I mean imagine working with an animal thats not real ppl Dont appreciate real live animals
It is a fake
This..... Does not seem like a real robot dolphin....
🤖🤖🤖👎👎👎👎🤢
Amazing!!