Disney Tests Prototype, Pursues Patent for Soft-Bodied Robot
Disney recently submitted a patent application for “a robot that will move and physically interact like an animated character.” The prototype sketch with the application shows a round body similar to the soft-robot character in Disney’s 2014 “Big Hero 6.”
Inventors Alexander Alspach, Joohyung Kim and Katsu Yamane have been working on a prototype at Disney Research Pittsburgh since at least 2014. Pittsburgh is also where Carnegie Mellon University developed a soft robotic arm that was the basis of inspiration for the “huggable robot” that became Baymax in “Big Hero 6.”
According to the application, the robot’s body is made of pliable chambers filled with fluid or air, which would sense pressure and adjust to “a child’s hug or to an accidental collision.” Frame and joint components would be made with a 3D printer, and its outer shapes would be “a donut shape, a cylinder, and a cylinder with a round end,” determined by “data obtained from a digital model of an animated (or other) character.”
The patent application notes that the robot’s soft body is “designed for reducing collision impacts during human interaction.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/disney-tests-prototype-pursues-patent-for-soft-bodied-robot/