Meet the Maker
with Matt Denton
Saturday 31 January 2026, 11am - 1pm
FREE, drop-in
Venue: MAKE Southwest, Jubilee Gallery
Suitable for: All
Matt Denton will be in the Jubilee Gallery to talk about and show his robotic spider, IC Hexapod!
Matt has spent over three decades working in the UK Film & TV Industry primarily in creature effects, specialising in animatronic control systems. Matt founded Micromagic Systems in 1999 to supply animatronic, robotic and puppet control systems and services to the film and television industry.
Matt has a 2016 VES Award for his work on the Star Wars droid BB-8 and has a Guinness World Record for the "Largest rideable Hexapod Robot" - called Mantis.
Matt has 2 pieces in the KINETIC exhibition, all about movement in craft, the IC Hexapod, and the large Lego-inspired tractor.
About Matt
Matt Denton became interested in electronics and robotics while at school, but didn't really get to grips with anything until he left and started a four year certified apprenticeship with Marconi Defense Systems. During this time he studied Electronics and Computer Engineering and obtained an ONC (Ordinary National Certificate, a UK further education qualification similar to A-Levels) and HNC (Higher National Certificate) in these subjects.
He was very interested in special effects and animatronics, having been inspired at a young age by films such as Star Wars and Labyrinth, and decided towards the end of his apprenticeship that he would like to work in the film and TV industry. Having no knowledge of the industry, Matt decided to write to TV companies whose names he found in industry magazines. Needless to say, all he received were rejections, informing him that TV companies were not the place to find this kind of work and he almost gave up at this point.
After about the 10th letter of rejection he decided to do the correct thing and go to University. So he started a BEng course in electronics and computers at Portsmouth University.
Matt founded Micromagic Systems in 1999 to supply animatronic, robotic and puppet control systems and services to the film and television industry.