Theodore J Frank, FE Passed, EIT Pending
Portfolio: TheodoreJFrank.com
frankth@alumni.upenn.edu • 407-683-6071 • Orlando, FL • linkedin.com/in/theodore-teddy-frank/ •
INVENTOR AT HEART, MECHANICAL ENGINEER BY PROFESSION. EXPERIENCED IN ROBOTICS, VR, AI, IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE & MECHATRONICS
Star Wars, the Rise of the Resistance - Should the Programming Be Tweeked to Make the Storm Troopers More Immersible & Life-Like?
Theodore Frank
Professor: Steven Grant
ARC5043, Integrated Practices
10/12/2023
I am really enjoying my classes at UF City Lab, working on my Master of Science in Architectural Studies/Concentration in Themed Environment Integration. It complements my BSE from the University of Pennsylvania well and I see a future path to exciting things to come. Recently we were to write a focus paper on the following: Identify a problem we knew existed and what thinking tools would we use to solve it. As I say in my CV, this is something I am passionate about. With all due respect to the Disney Imagineers for the ingenious work on Star Wars, the Rise of the Resistance, I suggest a few tweaks.
I will start by describing the actual scenario I am describing a fix for, as well as what is wrong in the first place. In Star Wars: The Rise of the Resistance, a ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, ride participants will be “captured” by an imperial ship and offboarded for interrogation during a preshow. As participants exit into the starship hanger, there is a detachment of imperial stormtroopers standing at menacing attention. They oversee the situation and ensure order is maintained at all times. At least, that is how they are supposed to come across. However, those troopers are standing at a rigid attention; while there are some that have slight head movements, the rest stand stone still like a stellar terracotta army. This immersive breaking phenomenon (or lack thereof) is the issue I seek to address in this essay. I intend to remedy this lacking by adjusting the joints of the stormtrooper mannequins, adding small electric motors that will act as vibrational “jitters” that simulate the natural movements a human being experiences while attempting to stand still. These small movements would both add another layer of immersion while removing the immersion breaking effect of what looks like a detachment of tin soldiers fresh off the assembly line.
The first tool used to address this situation is observation. While the lack of movement exhibited by the stormtroopers is unnerving and unnatural, what constitutes natural is often hard to pin down. By observing visuals of modern-day troops at attention (whether in person or in film), we can get a sense for how still a human is able to keep in such a situation and what movements or “jitters” come out. We could also get a sense for what sounds and atmosphere such a formation entail. Furthermore, we could use observation to get a sense for how the participants themselves view these troopers on the ride, whether by simply observing from the sidelines or by asking interview questions after the scene.
Having gathered insights through observation, imaging would be the next tool used. While observing can lead to understanding of how a phenomenon occurs, the actual implementation of the replication may not be immediately clear. Like a color-by-number, an idea can be “filled in”, starting from a nebulous concept that is refined through mental play within the parameters. Picturing how these movements happen and would look—or imagining oneself as one of those troopers in formation—can help guide what the overall solution will look like.
The human body, with its complex network of muscles, tendons, skeletal structures, and central nervous system, is challenging to replicate accurately in animatronics. While ideally, in order to replicate a human body most realistically, the trooper bodies could be modified to be accurate human analogs, down to the muscle fibers; monetary and feasibility constraints, however, force a more nuanced approach. This is where abstraction comes into play; by abstracting, complex muscle-tendon-skeletal relationships and the workings of the central nervous system can be transformed into something replicable and modellable. The aforementioned electric motors, attached to strategic points on the mannequin and loaded with offset weights, can generate subtle movements to mimic natural human jitters. This abstraction can also help us to develop the patterns we will want to exhibit in order to produce the effect.
The last tool in the toolbox is pattern formation. The vibrations and motor movements that will constitute our “jitters” will be formed of smaller units of movement. These individual “notes” can then be orchestrated with our abstract model of the human body to form a symphony of jitters and twitches that, on the whole, convey will a better feeling of reality to these troopers. These smaller movements also need to be coordinated across the entire formation, to ensure that animations don’t sync up nor does too much movement happen all at once. Such coordination is easiest to do by refining a grid of movements over and over, finding a pattern that works best.
On the other hand, there are obvious reasons things were done this way. There is a remarkable level of depth in the animatronics Disney built for the main stars of the movie, so this level of detail is no doubt achievable. The most likely explanation for the current presentation of the stormtroopers is no doubt monetary; diverting additional resources into this area of the ride isn’t guaranteed to make a return on that investment. Evidentially, the decision was made that what exists now was realistic enough, so it’s debatable whether the appropriate people could be convinced to make this change.
In conclusion, the integration of small vibrational motors to simulate natural movements and jitters in the stormtrooper formation at the preshow of Star Wars: The Rise of the Resistance is a potential solution to a lack of realism in an admittedly minor aspect of this amusement park ride. Although the problem may not be complex or deep rooted, it is one I immediately noticed my first time through. By utilizing tools such as observation, imaging, abstraction, and pattern formation, I aim to further immerse participants in the ride, ensuring that they enjoy an even more captivating and authentic experience. While there may be financial or logistical challenges to implementing these changes, I believe them to be worthy of consideration.