With more than 3,000 dolphins held captive worldwide, a crowdfunding campaign called “Dolphin Spirit” is looking to move marine parks to a more sustainable future.
The folks at Edge Innovations are looking to re-imagine the marine park industry by replacing live dolphins with completely life-like, animatronic versions of these wonderful and intelligent mammals.
To do that, Edge is conducting a crowdfunding campaign to develop and launch a live show featuring a robot dolphin in the summer of 2022.
Using their robotic dolphin technology and storytelling experience, Edge Innovations wants to “continue to fulfill the public’s desire to be entertained and educated by these magical creatures. We will go beyond dolphin acrobatics — a circus act — and deliver new types of up close and personal interactions.”
Edge Innovations’ team is led by Walt Conti, who helped create animatronics for movies and TV shows like “Free Willy,” “Flipper” and “The Abyss,” as well as Disney’s Avatar Land and the Jurassic World ride, and Roger Holzberg, former vice president/creative director from Walt Disney Imagineering and the writer of the Imax movie “The Living Sea.”
Contributions will fund the development, fabrication and production of the first two robotic, free-swimming oceanarium dolphins as well as the design and operation of the pilot attraction that will prove to the world, once and for all, that these animals no longer need to be imprisoned for all of us to experience their magic.
For more info, check out DeeperBlue Podcast Host Linden Wolbert’s Instagram post as well as the video below or go to edgedolphinspirit.com or the Dolphin Spirit GoFundMe page.
