Walt Disney Imagineering recruits advanced robotics expert to work on future animatronic figures

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Well, it would be nice to see that technology make a comeback..Like Updating Lucky

Better than that pitiful excuse of Entertainment V the Raptor..

 

[Beholder]

If they could transfer that technology into a bipedal creature, imagine the possibilities.

Terminators, Cylons, Ultron, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[dstrawn9889]

dont forget ash and david

 

[Jose]

I think Avatar is gonna feature some awesome AA's, a new level! can't wait!

 

[Nick Pappagiorgio]

I'm OK with outsourcing the final manufacturing but it's exciting to see a renewed push to in house R&D.

My understanding is thats how they did a number of projects even back in the day, Mansion was one example of this.

 

[Nick Pappagiorgio]

Well, it would be nice to see that technology make a comeback..Like Updating Lucky

Better than that pitiful excuse of Entertainment V the Raptor..

The sad thing is that they had that raptor out like last year. I found an unrelated youtube video of some guy at a reptile convention wearing the same costume clear back in 2009.

 

[Scuttle]

The guys who built the Yeti should be available. . .

Can we please get this guy to clean up the mess at EE?!?

 

[Prince-1]

If they could transfer that technology into a bipedal creature, imagine the possibilities.

One word...Westworld.

 

[Scuttle]

Well, it would be nice to see that technology make a comeback..Like Updating Lucky

Better than that pitiful excuse of Entertainment V the Raptor..

That looks terrible. To me if I'm a first time guest and I saw that I'd think to myself this is supposedly the best theme park business in the world? Stuff like that diminishes the brand, at least to the average guest IMO.

 

[George]

If they could transfer that technology into a bipedal creature, imagine the possibilities.

Imagine an Avatar boat ride with AA's that can move independently through certain scenes. Talk about taking things to a whole new level. One thing I always enjoy about the KS ride in DAK is that it never is truly the same each time you go on it. Imagine a futuristic walkthrough area in Pandora where AA's of the various animals from the Pandora forests are free to roam their respective sections.

They could have an awesome animatronic dinosaur interact with guests for a few months and walk around and the like and then disappear. They could then build a "Muppet Mobile Laboratory" and if you are at WDW during a 3 or 4 day window in the future you could talk about how awesome it was to see Honeydew and Beaker out and about. They may even have moving mouths and eyes and such on the non-face characters and 5 years after they debut that tech it will still be exciting and new since it will exist on one character from time to time.

They could also build elaborate AAs for the rides and then cover them with cheap plastic and vinyl so that you could see the hydraulic pump moving it around after the cheap skin tore. The possibilities are indeed endless.

 

[Pirouline]

Doubtful, this is just for R&D as opposed to production. It's great to see them investing in the hard research, but first management will need to change their view that margin is more important than show or upkeep. I wouldn't expect to see more AAs in the parks, either produced in house or outsourced to Garner, for some time sadly.

Garners pretty good but is not really innovating.

 

[Prog]

Artist's conception:

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

That looks terrible. To me if I'm a first time guest and I saw that I'd think to myself this is supposedly the best theme park business in the world? Stuff like that diminishes the brand, at least to the average guest IMO.

Agreed. That suit was such an utter failure, I hope they learned their lesson there and never bring it back out again. The even sadder thing is that i've seen infinitely superior dinosaur costumes built by just regular and likely not immensely wealthy (yet talented and creative) people-


Granted you can still see the person's legs underneath, but the level of detail on the skin, movement and other external features are orders of magnitude above Disney's quite frankly embarrassing pathetic dino suits.

And on a more professional level (though still from people infinitely less wealthy than Disney), there are some extremely impressive mechanical dino suits out there that fix the issues of seeing the wearer's legs entirely-


There are a lot of quite impressive dino costumes out there, examples are all over youtube of ones that were properly executed even by regular people. I've already got a pretty low opinion of Disney World lately, but I was still taken aback at how poor those dino costumes were.

 

[wdwgreek]

I would love to see my AA development in the parks. I adore them! The mobile muppet lab was such a cool thing!

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Agreed. That suit was such an utter failure, I hope they learned their lesson there and never bring it back out again. The even sadder thing is that i've seen infinitely superior dinosaur costumes built by just regular and likely not immensely wealthy (yet talented and creative) people-


Granted you can still see the person's legs underneath, but the level of detail on the skin, movement and other external features are orders of magnitude above Disney's quite frankly embarrassing pathetic dino suits.

And on a more professional level (though still from people infinitely less wealthy than Disney), there are some extremely impressive mechanical dino suits out there that fix the issues of seeing the wearer's legs entirely-


There are a lot of quite impressive dino costumes out there, examples are all over youtube of ones that were properly executed even by regular people. I've already got a pretty low opinion of Disney World lately, but I was still taken aback at how poor those dino costumes were.

Heck even the Walking with Dinosaurs Live Tour has some impressive driveable AA puppets..

 

[gmajew]

This is a very interesting and potential awesome hire for Disney. I hope they do some great R&D and create some new and amazing stuff. Don't care if they farm it out to be produced just glad they are investing in the technology that made them stand above everyone else in the past.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Garners pretty good but is not really innovating.

They build what Disney asks them to. It's not their fault Disney isn't dreaming big enough.

 

[rickdrat]

Cheesy 80's soundtrack notwithstanding, this is the really creepy stuff Boston Dynamics is working on... Lot's of theme park potential but with a very steep price tag I'm sure.

 

[Nubs70]

No more outsourcing?

I see him as the liason between Disney and the organization they outsource too. A grand R&D project manager

 

[larathydo]

As long as their ideas of new interactive animatronics don't involve changing guests down with a contraption like this: