Attenborough and the Robotic Plesiosaur
A behind-the-scenes look at how a robotic plesiosaur research project made it to television, revealing the science, engineering, and filmmaking collaboration behind its first filmed swim.
Talk: Yes | Workshop: No | Course: No | Audience: Public
Discover why the world’s most celebrated natural history filmmaker visited a basement lab at Imperial to meet aeronautical engineer Dr Luke Edward Muscutt and his extraordinary robotic plesiosaur. This talk tells the story behind that unusual encounter, explaining what drew a major documentary production to a research project that blends paleontology, engineering, and robotics to bring an extinct marine reptile back to life in mechanical form.
Go behind the scenes of Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster to see how science and filmmaking came together to capture Flip the robotic plesiosaur’s very first swim. From technical challenges and filming logistics to the unexpected realities of working with experimental machines in water, the session reveals what it really takes to translate cutting-edge research into compelling television. It highlights the collaboration between scientists, engineers, camera crews, and producers that made the sequence possible.
Along the way, Dr Muscutt shares insights into the design and purpose of the robot itself, showing how it was built to test scientific ideas about plesiosaur swimming. The result is a fascinating blend of research story, engineering case study, and media behind-the-scenes—offering audiences a rare glimpse into how modern science reaches the screen and how robotic experiments can help answer questions about life millions of years ago.
