Pet Dragon Breathes 8-Foot Fireballs!

This year's fifth annual Maker Faire featured a fully articulated, fire-breathing animatronic dragon named Saphira (after the dragon from the book Eragon).

Saphira was built by high school students Alex Jacobson and Sam DeRose of Marin, CA, with a little help from their perspective fathers (Mr. DeRose works for Pixar Animation). The project required several different techniques, such as "welding, oxy-acetylene cutting, pneumatics, flame effects, and the use of the Arduino microprocessor".

Check out the video below to see Saphira in action, and read a little more about their process here. MAKE also features a brief interview with the creators.

• Previously, Behind the Scenes: Animatronic Guts.
• Fire Breathing Snowman.