You would think the future of the movie industry is CGI. Not quite in Disney’s books. We use to think CGI will take over many roles in movie making, including stuntman and some characters that are not convenient to be played by human actors. Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development team begs to differ.
The R&D division of Walt Disney has not only moved away from green screen, created a stunt robot (which is being used as Spider-Man at Disneyland Resort), but now, it has created a free-roaming robotic actor that can play small characters in movies.
The child-size robot is pretty sophisticated. It goes beyond walking; it can gesture and emote as per the character’s requirement.
The free-roaming robot has been in development for several years now. Recently Disney gave the public an update of its first prototype which is dressed as Baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
As per Walt Disney Imagineering:
“Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development is developing a small-scale, free-roaming robotic actor that can take on the role of our similarly-sized Disney characters. Its tightly integrated design provides over 50 degrees of freedom in a compact platform that can walk, gesture, and emote in style. Using custom authoring tools that combine whole-body motion planning and traditional character animation, artists can quickly bring robotic characters to life with expressive motions and interactive behaviors. There are no immediate plans for use in Disney theme parks; however, a prototype in the form of Groot is being used to test unique traits, gaits and capabilities.”
So, folks. Welcome to the future of movie making, where, very possibly, only small studios will continue to use CGI and giants like Disney will be using robots. Keep going for the video demo.
Images: YouTube (Walt Disney Imagineering).
via Laughing Squid.
