Disney shared the development of highly intelligent robots that it plans to use as character actors in its worldwide theme parks, such as Disney World and Disneyland Tokyo.
Brooks Barnes of The New York Times wrote about his experience visiting Walt Disney Imagineering and interacting with the department’s fluid animatronic version of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Groot. The three-foot Groot was able to walk around, wave and introduce himself. “When I remained silent, his demeanor changed,” Barnes wrote of his interaction with Groot. “His shoulders slumped, and he seemed to look at me with puppy dog eyes. ‘Don’t be sad,’ I blurted out. He grinned and broke into a little dance before balancing on one foot with outstretched arms.”
Disney Parks is no stranger to animatronic figures; thousands of animatronics are used worldwide at Disney Parks’ rides and attractions. Code named “Project Kiwi,” the development of these high-tech robots will allow them to walk around and interact with guests outdoors, while the majority of current animatronics are bolted indoors and do not interact with attendees. Imagineering’s robots will use cameras and sensors to respond to guests and convey emotions. “[All] of this technology must disappear, which takes a crazy amount of engineering,” Senior Imagineer Leslie Evans explained. “We don’t want anyone thinking, ‘That’s the most sophisticated robot I have ever encountered.’ It has to be: ‘Look! It’s Groot!'”
While Imagineering will continue to research and develop this technology, it does not plan to replace Disney Parks’ human cast members with robots. The robots are not being developed to take away jobs from those who play Disney’s human characters, such as Gaston or Princess Elsa. Rather, it’s being used to create fantastic characters, specifically from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, that would be hard to replicate without CGI, such as the Hulk or The Mandalorian‘s Grogu.
Disney has already debuted its robot technology at Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure. An animatronic version of Spider-Man can be spotted at the entrance of Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure. While the robot does not interact with guests, it does swing over Avengers Campus performing acrobatic flips, jumps and falls.
A recent Imagineering video that showed off its dancing Groot also displayed a closer look at long-awaited piece of Disney Parks technology: a real lightsaber. The short clip of the lightsaber showed an Imagineer who extends the luminescent blade from the saber’s hilt with the press of a button. The lightsaber technology was developed for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and will premiere as part of the park’s upcoming two-night vacation package Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
Source: The New York Times
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