"For the past few months, a group of engineering students from San Jose State University has been working on a project that's sure to land them at the top of Santa's "nice" list. Instead of building the next AI platform, they've been trying to bring smiles to the faces of kids and adults by making penguins fly for Christmas in the Park."
"They replaced the old plush penguins with new figures made out of fiberglass that can flap their wings as they descend. Peffer said the design students had to figure out how to make the animatronic penguins work and built them from scratch, ordering parts online and making others using a 3D printer. They also had to figure in maintenance and sustainability, to make sure the display lasts as long as possible."
"It's been such a success that Peffer said talks have already started on collaborating with San Jose State on a whole new display for next year, working not only with the engineering and robotics students but also with marketing and design. "This would be an all-encompassing display working with multiple departments at the school," Peffer said. "We foresee this being a bigger thing that we can"
San Jose State engineering seniors rebuilt the Penguin Flight School carousel for Plaza de Cesar Chavez, replacing worn plush penguins with fiberglass figures that flap wings as they descend. The students designed and built animatronic mechanisms from scratch, ordering components online and fabricating parts with a 3D printer. The project incorporated maintenance and sustainability considerations to extend display longevity. Program Manager Keith Peffer noted the students iterated through solutions and solved problems during development. The installation restored a whimsical holiday attraction and prompted plans for expanded collaboration with multiple San Jose State departments to create a larger, interdisciplinary display next year.
Read at The Mercury News
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