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Robotic Revelry
If you look really hard, you might see the mechanical mouth on the vulture looming above the Boardwalk entrance of Bally's Wild Wild West Casino, Maybe. But you'll also see the wiry hairs coming out of his beak and bloodshot eyes that make him seem as lifelike as the real thing.
Listen to him long enough, and you might just think he's eyeing you for his next meal. Move along Fast.
The 17 animatronic characters that inhabit Bally's new western casino go well beyond our customary images of robots. Created by Sarcos, a Salt Lake City-based technology company that manufactures advanced prosthetic arms, hands, and fingers, the vulture and his pals are the stars of Atlantic City's newest attraction. Spread throughout the casino, they give the frontier gambling town more personality and fit well into the late-nineties mission of entertaining visitors.
"We've all seen robots before, but these are much better," Bally's president
and COO Wally Barr says. "If you push a robot, it will move side-to-side.
Push these characters and they'll sway just like a human." 
They also sound just like people. The vulture sits atop a cactus and encourages visitors to move into the casino in a Jack Nicholson-style voice that sounds just menacing enough to mean business. Beyond him, a hard-luck gold miner and his cranky mule hold forth on the wonders that await those who head into the Wild Wild West. He may not have found gold during his travels, but players might.
Inside the casino proper, a frontier town madam entices men with a double-entendre-filled speech about the Lilly Mae Social Club. Women are encouraged to go about their business, while their partners stop in for some fun. "I haven't found a flavor of man I don't like," She says in her throaty voice.
Across the way, an old-fashioned snake-oil salesman is hard at work peddling his wares.
He claims that his magic elixir is "the key to a long life" and is a "rejuvenating serum" capable of clearing up anyone's ills. Interrupting the con artist every so often is a heckler unimpressed with his presentation. Beyond them, a pair of cowboys stages a shootout from building balconies, and a town drunk wobbles about. Although patrons can't interact with the characters, their three-to-four minute presentations are certain to enhance the Wild Wild West experience.
These are authentic western characters," Barr says. "We paid a lot of attention to detail".
It's another form of entertainment for our guests." Just watch out for that vulture.
-MB
