Disney Research Robot Can Juggle, Play Catch 40
Zothecula writes "With the aim of providing some physical interaction between entertainment robots and guests at its theme parks, while still maintaining a safe distance between the two, Disney Research has created an animatronic robot that can play catch and juggle balls with a human partner. Caught balls are thrown back 2.5 meters (8 ft) to the thrower, while the developers have given the robot several different animations that play out when it drops a ball. These include a shaking of the head, looking behind, looking down, or a shrug of the shoulders."
They'll be giving them machine guns next.. (Score:2, Funny)
They'll be giving them machine guns next and selling them to the Army.
Imagine the terror as a heavily armed platoon of robotic Mickey Mice advances!
Re:They'll be giving them machine guns next.. (Score:5, Funny)
imagine two opposing robot armies tossing grenades back and forth...
A step back (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe they are cutting costs, but this is an inferior alternative to their current, proven approach: Disney Lab Unveils Its Latest Line Of Genetically Engineered Child Stars [theonion.com]
It's all fun and games until... (Score:2, Funny)
A bird flies past the thrower and the robot decides it is a ball and starts tossing dead birds at the guests.
Re:They'll be giving them machine guns next.. (Score:5, Funny)
Head is kind of a Lyle Lovett rictus. It looks much less T1 in closeup, though, but still uncanny. Say the following in a laconic drawl: "Nice night for a walk."
Dropped ball? (Score:3, Funny)
If it was true AI, it would have learned to look at the referee and claim to have been fouled.