philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Disney’s Newest Robot Demonstrates Collaborative Cuteness 

How two robots can be much more capable than one

... Having robots work together–especially if they have complementary skill sets–can open up some exciting opportunities, especially in the entertainment robotics space. At Walt Disney Imagineering, our research and development teams have been working on this idea of collaboration between robots, and we were able to show off the result of one such collaboration in Shanghai this week, when a little furry character interrupted the opening moments for the first-ever Zootopia land.

Our newest robotic character, Duke Weaselton, rolled onstage at the Shanghai Disney Resort for the first time last December, pushing a purple kiosk and blasting pop music. As seen in the video below, the audience got a kick out of watching him hop up on top of the kiosk and try to negotiate with the Chairman of Disney Experiences, Josh D’Amaro, for a new job. ...

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRJFYlldkBw&t=361s (PhilNote: the robot is the better actor)

What might not be obvious at first is that the moment you just saw was enabled not by one robot, but by two. Duke Weaselton is the star of the show, but his dynamic motion wouldn’t be possible without the kiosk, which is its own independent, actuated robot. ...

The character is an expressive, bipedal robot with an exaggerated, animated motion style. It looks fantastic, but it’s not optimized for robust, reliable locomotion. The kiosk, meanwhile, is a simple wheeled system that behaves in a highly predictable way. ...

Because the character robot is tough and because there is some flexibility built into its motors and joints, small errors in placement and pose don’t create big problems like they might for a more conventional robot. The character can lean on the motorized kiosk to create the illusion that it is pushing it across the stage. The kiosk then uses a winch to hoist the character onto a platform, where electromagnets help stabilize its feet. ...

Watch the robots train here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFNruidzlZw&t=54s

See the full story here: https://spectrum.ieee.org/disney-robot-2666681104