Animatronic Skin

Animatronic "skin" is needed on figures with movement. When the Disney Company was making the first animatronic human figure, President Abraham Lincoln, the imagineers tried using natural latex for the figure's skin. They soon found out that though the latex was flexible at first, oxidation and repeated movement over time caused it to become less flexible, eventually leading to deformation and cracking. Over the years different patented formulas of animatronic skin have been developed by animatronics experts, specialty materials suppliers, and special FX experts. Although silicon-based animatronic skin is often used for new animatronic projects, foam latex skin is still very popular.