As crowds at the intersection of tech, science, education, politics and film descended upon Austin for the morning of the first day of South by Southwest this past Friday, one of the most legendary companies in American history unveiled an impressive panel filled with the technology of the future. That company was Disney. That tech? Theme parks.
“The Art & Science of Disney Parks Storytelling” proved to be one of the most popular events of the first weekend of South by Southwest, and it featured many of Disney’s executives and imagineers teasing the biggest as-of-yet-unreleased tech to be featured at Disney’s parks around the world. From real lightsabers, to robotics, to projection technology and more.
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Real Lightsabers
One of the first prototype pieces shown at the panel was baked into one of the biggest properties Disney now heads:Star Wars. In discussing the theming and immersion that go into every aspect of Disney’s parks, division president Josh D’Amaro discussed the scaling levels of authenticity in props. Starting with an average consumer toy lightsaber, then moving up to an authentically prop-minded lightsaber used atGalaxy’s Edgeand the Galactic Starcruiser, D’Amaro finally showed a lightsaber handle, with no rod or other device attached, shooting out projected light. With experimental tech that has been in development for years, there can now be lightsabers that utilize projected light to create the same visual effect seen in theStar Warsmovies—no plastic tube or rod containing the light required. It remains to be known when exactly this new model will see widespread use in the parks, or if it will ever be available to consumers as opposed to cast members. The demonstration also didn’t see any attempt at the lightsabers striking a surface for any damage, but the accompanying imagineer was quite ready to step back once it went live if we want to dream.
Character Presentations: Tinkerbell and Hulk
Shifting focus from props to broader presentation of parks cast members, SXSW also saw new technology about how fans can expect to see iconic Disney characters, small or big, around the parks. Starting with a small lantern, the imagineers brought out Tinkerbell, at a height of around three inches, to meet with the presenters as a realistic 3D-visualized projection. Combining the perspective of projection with the live character interaction from the cast member, characters of any size can now interact with guests in realistic environments, far beyond just static screen images. Switching up in size and moving back out into the park itself, Hulk stopped by for the show. Touting his very own SXSW-ID under the name of Bruce Banner,Hulk’s appearancemarked the usage of special costume technology that uses materials and weight direction to create accurately-scaled, fully interactable characters with a sense of organic acting. While Bruce only showed up to the panel for a minute, he interacted live on the floor of the Austin Convention Center with guests. And if there was any space in which the technological wonder of the Avengers felt real, it’d probably be SXSW.
Judy Hopps as a Fully-Functional AI Robot
Up to this point, D’Amaro and the various presenters focused a lot on technologies that were, if not publicly visible in the parks, at least pretty far along in development. However, near the end of the panel the attention turned to a large, conspicuous wooden box and the stress that what was inside was a lot less of an untested prototype. The sense of anticipation in the room was palpable, anything could be in there when they opened that box. What ended up coming out was the box opening itself, and out peered the head of Judy Hopps, the famous police-bunny from Disney’s 2016animated hitZootopia. Crawling out, the robotic Judy Hopps robot revealed itself to be wearing full rollerblades, which the presenters stressed as being the result of intuitive AI testing that was meant to capture the sense of somebody (somebunny?) attempting to learn to rollerblade on their own. Giving Judy the floor, she rode around and attempted a small somersault, her felt ears helping to visualize the physics of her movement and her facial expressions conveying a sense of cautious optimism. It’s not known how long it’ll be until this fully-automated robotic tech makes a more public appearance, but with AI—as with rollerblading—cautious optimism is probably a good approach to take.
With all of these announcements, Disney brought the best of the best to South-by. That evening, press and executives gathered for a private showing of the tech at an upscale lounge in downtown Austin. Tinkerbell talked to guests, the materials used to create tomorrow’s costumes were seen up-close, and just a little of the technology behind real lightsabers(!) was explained in as layman’s terms as possible. The imagineers’ latest projects got even the tech-minded attendees of SXSW believing, if just for a moment, in Disney’s magic.
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