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Disney Imagineering Debuts Next-Generation Robotic Character, Olaf

Disney Imagineering Debuts Next-Generation Robotic Character, Olaf

ChrisArchitect

Comments (102)

  • gkoberger
    This is cool, but it will almost definitely never end up in a park, outside of some promotional situations.Disney's been doing awesome work with "Living Characters", like a Mickey that moves his mouth or a BB-8 that can roll around. But for various reasons, they never tend to make it into regular usage.If you have a few hours over Christmas break and want to watch a 4 hour YouTube video (I promise if you're on HN on a Sunday, you'll be delighted by it), I highly highly recommend this video:"Disney's Living Characters: A Broken Promise" by Defunctland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyIgV84fudM
  • teekert
    “Prototype-completed design varies.” …Reading this 10 times made me uncomfortably aware of how much I rely on scanning pictures and reading captions to get the gist of an article. A remnant of my academic days perhaps.
  • mapt
    I still remember an experience as a kid decades ago, either at Epcot or with the Sony quasi-museum in NYC, where they had an apparently robotic greeter with a personality, who after five minutes you deciphered was actually an improv comic running a telepresence robot.I don't know if I'd trust an AI's reliability here. It takes one Tiktok video of the AI coloring outside the lines of its character and the whole project gets cancelled as a threat to Disney's image.For the less physical characters, especially the ones that aren't conveniently human-sized, I'm sure telepresence is at least more comfortable than a plush suit on a Florida summer day.
  • sharkjacobs
    > Most importantly, Olaf can speak and engage in conversations, creating a truly one-of-a-kind experience.We already live in the world where hackers are pwning refrigerators, I can't wait for prompt injection attacks on animatronic cartoon characters.
  • gsf_emergency_6
    Fitting name for a humanoid.The name Olaf comes from Old Norse Áleifr, combining "anu" (ancestor) and "leifr" (heir/relic), meaning "ancestor's heir" or "ancestor's relic,"
  • Zigurd
    You can make a robot that's small, soft, and not powerful enough to hurt anyone. Or you can make a robot that's strong enough to carry a laundry basket or climb stairs holding a vacuum cleaner. But you can only operate that big strong robot when there are no humans around. Is that big strong robot an investable idea?
  • sb057
    The lack of a video demonstration doesn't really inspire confidence.
  • throw7
    Universal Studios baby dragons did it better.
  • whycome
    Sometimes the idea of a killer cyborg with a hulking physique and Austrian accent seems absurd. And then we realize the most advanced robots will be made by entertainment companies.
  • ChrisArchitect
    Related R&D paper & video:Olaf: Bringing an Animated Character to Life in the Physical Worldhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16705https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L8OFMTteOo
  • gcanyon
    They can make a two-legged walking robot, but they can't avoid the visible seam in the back of his head?The tech is amazing, but they need better sewing...
  • analog8374
    Strong "Simple Jack" vibes.
  • gregjw
    Five Nights at Freddys has ruined the joy animatronics for me, they just seem creepy now.
  • lwhi
    This leads me to wonder, when are we likely to have LLMs in robot form in every day life?
  • fwip
    When even Disney can't be bothered to write an article without using the default LLM voice... ugh.
  • brcmthrowaway
    How does a Steam Deck compare to say, TouchOSC on an iPad?
  • ursAxZA
    For Paris, I’d honestly be more curious to see a Beast robot from *Beauty and the Beast.Full-size might be… risky, but a small, friendly mini-Beast could be fun.
  • anon
    undefined
  • bruce511
    Do they wanna build a snowman?
  • gedy
    Really neat, and made me realize we are getting close to having these type of cute robots at home. With LLMs and voice they would be pretty entertaining companions for many people.
  • NedF
    [dead]
  • whiteboardr
    [flagged]
  • charcircuit
    >From the way he moves to the way he looks, every gesture and detail is crafted to reflect the Olaf audiences have seen in the filmHe looks nothing like a snowman. Snow doesn't look fuzzy. This project appears to focus more on trying to get it moving around in an animated way than getting the character to look right, at least when viewed from photographs.