Animatronics
Description
Participants demonstrate knowledge of mechanical and control systems by designing, fabricating, and controlling an animatronics device that will communicate, entertain, inform, demonstrate and/or illustrate a topic, idea, subject, or concept. Sound, lights, and a surrounding environment must accompany the device.
2025-26 Theme
“Time Travelers’ Museum”
Design Problem: Create an animatronic figure or scene from a key moment in American history. The character should "come to life" to explain their world to a young audience. Designed for a children's museum or educational tour.
Jackson HS, Team 1, 2025 1st Place
Event Resources
Event Examples
Click on the links to the right to view some entries of this event that placed at state last year!
Event Deadlines
January 23, 2025
Students will need their Participant ID number, and password, from their advisor. Only the team captain will be able to upload the file.
Teams will submit a video of their device. Device will be scored on Model Appearance and Model Function in the rubric.
Teams are able to keep working on their device after the qualifying deadline, if they qualify for the State Conference.
April 2025
Students will sign up for a presentation time on Wednesday evening.
Students will bring their entry with them to the presentation time, and give a presentation to the judges, demonstrating movement.
There will not be a separate semifinal round.
Washington TSA Rules
To compete, students must:
Belong to a currently affiliated TSA chapter
Be registered (by their TSA advisor) for competition by December 19, 2025 ($35)
Compete in the January 22, 2026 virtual competition (see individual event pages for details)
Be selected as a top competitor in their event(s) and invited to participate at State
Number of competitors is dependent on specific event
Qualifying competitor lists will be published by February 8, 2026
State Conference registration week February 23-27, 2026 (see state conference page for details)
At the state level, 3 teams (may be a team of 1 at advisor’s discretion) per chapter may compete.
Additional Information
Event Coordinator: Christine Phippard, cphippard@everettsd.org
Event Manager: Kari Potter, kpotter@washingtontsa.org
