At a Zootopia-land grand opening event, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro was joined by Walt Disney Imagineering’s newest Audio-Animatronic, Duke Weaselton. The interaction, which you can watch a video of below, included Duke roaming across the stage, “pushing” a cart before being hoisted to a secondary position where he interacted with D’Amaro.
VIDEO
Here’s a photo and description of the encounter from Shanghai Disneyland:
At a media sharing session after the opening ceremony, Duke Weaselton, the smart-mouthed weasel, made a surprise appearance when Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences shared the vision and mission of the company with media guests from across China and around the world. Duke represents the cutting-edge technology adopted by Walt Disney Imagineering to bring familiar Disney stories and characters to life.
Duke is a demonstration of the next iteration of robotic technology, which Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development (R&D) and Disney Research first displayed earlier this year at the South By Southwest (SXSW) conference. At SXSW, Disney Imagineers unveiled an untethered, dynamic robotic character on skates that could steady itself and even perform a somersault — movements humans can relate to that generate emotional connections with the bunny character.
With Duke, Imagineers have combined the ability to do all kinds of dynamic maneuvers, with our expertise in building expressive, animated faces. Now that Duke can speak, naturally he’s weaseled his way into a stage show! This is just another example of how Disney is taking creativity to new heights through technological breakthroughs in storytelling.
While we can’t tell you many of the details of how Imagineers brought Duke to life, or where you might see similar robotic technology in the future, we can share with you one secret: to pull off this achievement required not one, but two robots working together in sync. Not only was Duke a robotic figure, but so was the kiosk itself!
For more on Zootopia land, check out our article below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!