Disney Unveils Wall-E-Inspired Robot

Disney has unveiled its latest foray into robots, with a small bipedal robot that can walk, dance and convey emotions.

The robot made its debut at the  IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Detroit earlier this month. 

The robot is mostly made up of 3D-printed parts with modular hardware and actuators, making it easily replicated and scaled up in the future.

A release from Walt Disney Imagineering said the new robotic character combines procedural animation, modular hardware, and reinforcement learning to design and program a walking character capable of unique “gaits and traits.” 

The design is a result of collaboration between animators and engineers, translating the expressive, personality-filled movements of animations into robotic form.

The team also said the design is moving rapidly through the development process, with indications that there will be more releases announced in the upcoming months. 

“[We’re doing this] within months, not years!” The statement said. “The ability to have a new robot design learn to imitate artistic motion in a simulation environment before it’s being built advances Imagineering’s innovation pipeline … and we can’t wait to see what more can be done with this exploration!”

Related:Disney Robot Debuts at SXSW

This is not Disney’s first character robot, with the company unveiling a robot based on its animated rabbit character, Judy Hopps, at SXSW in March. 

The robot was unveiled by climbing out of a box, rollerblading across the stage and doing somersaults.