How robot 'Penguincams' are helping filmmakers chronicle the secret lives of penguins
'Penguins: Waddle All the Way' is a documentary that used robotic technology to film the waddling birds
Cuddly, clumsy and sometimes “even a bit nuts”. That’s the way the internet, films and documentaries portray penguins.
They were animated in Warner Bros' Happy Feet and live in Academy Award winning documentary March of the Penguins, but a new documentary by Discovery channel and BBC now brings us an unprecedented insight to the way these flightless birds actually live.
Penguins: Waddle All the Way, produced by British filmmaker John Downer, is a light-hearted 2 hour close-up look at penguins across the globe.
For twelve months, over 50 cameras followed the lives of Emperor penguins in Antarctica, Rockhopper penguins on the Falkland Islands, and Peru’s Humboldt penguins.
While wildlife documentaries on penguins are by no means revolutionary, what makes this documentary so special is the use of cameras hidden in life-size robot penguin replicas, known informally as 'Penguincams'.
“The Penguincams can swim, toboggan, waddle, jump and even lay fake eggs,” Discovery said in a statement. “Wherever the penguins go, Penguincam follows.”