Disney Parks, in its first appearance at South by Southwest (SXSW), showcased the latest tech that visitors could one day see at the theme parks, including a rollerblading, somersaulting robot.


What You Need To Know

  • Disney Parks showed off its new tech during a presentation at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas

  • The presentation, led by Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro, included a prototype robot demonstration

  • The robot resembled Judy Hopps from "Zootopia" and performed stunts on stage

  • RELATED: Former Imagineer Bruce Vaugh returns to Walt Disney Imagineering

During a presentation called “The Art & Science Behind Disney’s Timeless Storytelling,” Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro and Walt Disney Imagineers revealed a robot that resembled Judy Hopps from the Disney animated film “Zootopia.”

As the robotic bunny with rollerblades climbed out of a box and onto the stage, Imagineers Tony Dohi and Morgan Pope explained to the crowd how Disney has been developing robots that can have “an emotional connection” with park guests.

“Robotics is all about precision, repeatability…and inhuman perfection,” Pope said in a video released by Disney Parks.

Dohi and Pope — the same team behind the Spider-Man robot that performs at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure — had the robotic bunny perform stunts on stage, including skating across the stage, falling down and getting back up.

“We are using high performance materials, and taking advantage of mechanical scaling effects — so she’s dynamic and tough,” Pope said. “But we’re also using motion capture data because we want to make performances that have emotion embedded in them.”

Disney didn’t say if or when the robot shown at SXSW would be introduced at the theme parks. The company has a long history of using robotics in its attractions, including Carousel of Progress and The Hall of Presidents at Disney World.

Imagineers also showed off another “blue sky”  character meet-and-greet concept that involved an interactive Tinker Bell that can have real-time conversations with guests. The character was shown in a lantern and responded to questions during the demonstration.

Other Disney tech shown at SXSW included the giant Hulk exoskeleton walk-around character that debuted last year at Disney California Adventure and the “real” lightsaber that’s used at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.

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