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Disney has a lot of Impressive voice-animated characters in the theme parkbut its latest robot may be the most unusual: it’s the first to be made using motion-capture technology on a doll.
The Muppets are the new stars of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. Walt Disney Imagineering wanted to create an animated version of Scooter, the geeky right-hand man of Kermit the Frog and the behind-the-scenes manager of the Muppet’s gang of performers.
Watch this: Imagineers share secrets of Disney’s new ride technology
But instead of building a scooter-shaped robot, the team built a robot that works like a puppeteer. Imagineers recorded the movements of realistic puppet performers and created a robotic system that mimicked the hand gestures used to control the scooter’s mouth and stick. The scooter is also said to be Disney’s first audio mobile device to use 3D printing technology in its housing.
Disney invited me to check out some of their latest high-tech upgrades It will make its debut this week to guests at Walt Disney World parkswhich you can see more about in the video embedded above. I spoke with several Imagineers who talked about the details of the machines needed to power these upgrades.
But it’s clear that our tech culture is also shaping storytelling. For example, in the queue for the Muppets roller coaster, guests watch “live” videos that mimic social media feeds on vertical screens, with the screen flipping upwards Death scroll style as they get updates on the story and the missing Muppet band, The Electric Mayhem.
Meanwhile, other attractions are raising the bar and scoring systems with the same technology used to produce today’s cutting-edge video games.
Nvidia’s latest processors and machines powered by Unreal Engine 5 deliver new experiences in the engaging Star Wars game Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Here, the ride itself is designed like a giant video game, with guests sitting at the controls of the Falcon, determining the outcome of the mission while piloting the ship, blasting enemies through space and keeping an eye on the friendly Grogu. Visuals are now displayed in 4K at 60 frames per second, compared to 3K at 50 frames per second, and are displayed in real time through a mix of five projectors.
The story of the journey was captured by The Mandalorian and Grogu — A change introduced the same weekend the film debuted — and with updated graphics, guests can now choose from three planets to jump to at the end of their mission, adding more variables than when the ride debuted seven years ago.
The Star Wars ride also offers a new twist for Fortnite fans: If you link your Disney account to your Fortnite account, actions you take on the ride can have an impact on your game when you return home.
In another galaxy, not too far away, at the Magic Kingdom theme park, a spaceman from the Toy Story universe also makes use of Unreal Engine technology. But instead of Disney using machines to display graphics in real time, the company is using them to record scores in the updated Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin shooting game.
Each rider picks up a laser cannon in a moving vehicle, firing at targets that now have more dynamic animations. The blaster also makes aiming and scoring easier with improved haptic feedback.
But to keep the score in real time with this new dynamic system, each contestant’s cannon is linked to their own Unreal Engine machine. With 100 moving vehicles, this means there are 200 individual unreal systems operating in the attraction.
I have been visiting these parks with my family for decades. I played these games as a kid and as a parent of my own children, and these updates were noticeable improvements, especially the repetitive gameplay of the Millennium Falcon and Buzz Lightyear rounds. What I also appreciate is that the new technology is added in a way that is never distracting, helping the attractions retain a timeless quality that can keep them classics for another generation for the next 30 years.
