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Rhawwarh!
For iconic Field Museum T. Rex Sue turns 10th birthday, a 3-D film and robotic dinosaurs
05/26/2010 10:00 PM
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For dinosaur lovers who have always wanted to visit a real life Jurassic park, without the danger of death, the Field Museum wants to grant your wish.
To celebrate the decennial anniversary of the Tyrannosaurus rex fossil known as Sue, officials have enlisted high-tech robots and 3-D technology. The result is a prehistoric world where lifelike dinosaurs interact with visits, even getting angry if anyone gets too close.
The most complete T. rex skeleton, Sue was named after the fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson, and unveiled at the Field Museum 10 years ago this month. While the dinosaur’s real gender is unknown, researchers do know that it is the largest and most in-tact T. rex ever found.
“There are only around 40 T. rex skeletons in the world, and none were as complete as Sue,” said Peter Makovicky, chair of the museum’s geology department. “She was really a significant find.”
The Field Museum acquired Sue in 1997 for $8.36 million — the largest amount ever paid for a fossil. Paleontologists spent two painstaking years separating the bone from rock before she finally went on display in the museum in 2000. More than 16 million visitors have since stood in awe of her 42-foot-long skeleton and razor-sharp teeth, some nearly 12 inches long.
Starting this week, the Field Museum will premier “Waking the T. rex: The Story of Sue” in the museum’s 3-D theater. The movie will update viewers on what researchers have learned from Sue in the past 10 years, as well as follow her life from birth to death as she faces dangerous encounters with prey, injury and disease.
Guests then can come face-to-face with a lifelike Sue and other dinosaurs in a new exhibit “RoboSUE: The T. rex Experience.” Equipped with face-tracking technology, giant robotic dinosaurs can “see” and track guests.
“This level of interaction has never been done anywhere before,” said Hilary Hansen Sanders, exhibit project manager. “There are over 100 different triggers and as you move through the exhibit, the dinosaurs will respond.”
For example, a mother Triceratops sounds a warning call and prepares to charge if guests get too close to her nest. Feeding on a recent kill, a Velociraptor will stare down anyone who threatens to interrupt its mealtime.
“Not only do you feel like you’re walking with the dinosaurs, but you’re seeing what they see,” said Matthew Fisher, president of KumoTek, the Texas-based company that developed the robotics technology. “Guests can experience the world through the eyes of a dinosaur.”







