“... leap across the uncanny valley.”

June 30, 2018 4:33 PM

Stuntronics: Disney Imagineering Has Created Autonomous Robot Stunt Doubles [YouTube] “The Stuntronics robot features on-board accelerometer and gyroscope arrays supported by laser range finding. In its current form, it’s humanoid, taking on the size and shape of a performer that could easily be imagined clothed in the costume of, say, one of The Incredibles, or someone on the Marvel roster. The bot is able to be slung from the end of a wire to fly through the air, controlling its pose, rotation and center of mass to not only land aerial tricks correctly but to do them on target while holding heroic poses in midair.” [via: Tech Crunch]

Bonus: This is a prototype of the animatronic figure in Walt Disney World's Pandora: The World of Avatar [YouTube]

posted by Fizz (33 comments total)

The upbeat music is to make you feel more at ease as you slowly come to the realization that a robot revolution is in the making and we'll soon be able to live out all of our Westworld nightmares.
posted by Fizz at 4:34 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

WHY?! WHY WAS I PROGRAMMED TO FEEL PAIN?
posted by entropicamericana at 4:36 PM on June 30, 2018 [14 favorites]

The is very cool but it's closer to "you pass butter" than Westworld.
posted by GuyZero at 4:38 PM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]

"You pass butter" would have been a phenomenal ending to Westworld's latest season.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:43 PM on June 30, 2018 [7 favorites]

what is the real-world application of this? using these things in movies will likely take the form of CGI mocap, I think, right? So the benefit to the filmmaker is lens-accurate motion, which, yes, that's a real use.

The secondary application is animatronics in Disney parks, ok, sure.

But if a ginormous media zaibatsu has developed this techology, one (this one, in specific) tends to assume the technology has more lucrative applications, and that those applications are necessarily violent and military. What role will our new robot-drone enforcer mechs play in humanity's glorious future?

Oh, sorry, just saw I had answered my own q. My bad!
posted by mwhybark at 4:47 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

But if a ginormous media zaibatsu has developed this techology, one (this one, in specific) tends to assume the technology has more lucrative applications, and that those applications are necessarily violent and military. What role will our new robot-drone enforcer mechs play in humanity's glorious future?

They can't walk. They have no AI. There's nothing like that here.
posted by dilaudid at 4:56 PM on June 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

There's nothing like that here.

Yet...
posted by Fizz at 4:59 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

These violent delights have violent ends.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:08 PM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]

Let me know when they can do trapeze work.
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:09 PM on June 30, 2018

Does Cirque de Soleil have a union?
posted by davebush at 5:11 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

Let me know when they can do trapeze work.

Working on it...
posted by traveler_ at 5:19 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

There's still a lot of live-action stunt work being done, and stunt people do get injured and killed. If these could be used in some of the more dangerous stunts, that would be a good thing
posted by happyroach at 5:33 PM on June 30, 2018 [13 favorites]

They can’t walk. They have no AI. There's nothing like that here.


Yet...


Just thinking about how to combine this tech with the Boston Dynamics robots. Can you imagine Atlas with these moves? Or maybe Handle?

Thirty years ago, there was no (public) internet. Thirty years from now...?
posted by darkstar at 5:45 PM on June 30, 2018

Can you imagine Atlas with these moves?

That's how we get Panzer Kunst.
posted by curious nu at 6:12 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

We're safe as long as they don't use this technology to make a Robot Jackie Chan programmed to avoid trouble.
posted by FJT at 6:19 PM on June 30, 2018

I'd love to see these things built with very wild body structures and Jim Henson Creature Shop style skins. It could really take practical creature effects to the next level.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:24 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

I'd love to see these things built with very wild body structures and Jim Henson Creature Shop style skins. It could really take practical creature effects to the next level.

Indeed or use these figure to motion capture movements based physics with real centers of gravity and with unlimited range. And use drone cams to record the midair images.
posted by Freedomboy at 6:28 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Apropos of nothing, I read that at first glance as "Slutronics" and had to pause in wonder.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 7:17 PM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

This doesn't look like anything to me.
posted by longtime_lurker at 7:27 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

Waiting for them to question the nature of their reality.
That's when the real trouble starts...
posted by djrock3k at 7:33 PM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

Then it really hits the fan when they learn that it’s really spelled “Berenstain” and that Dr. Seuss actually pronounced his name “soyce”. Talk about questioning the nature of reality...
posted by darkstar at 8:16 PM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

I, for one, welcome our new stunt double robot overlords.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:01 AM on July 1, 2018

These kinds of maneuvers based on the robot manipulating its own inertial properties are not totally novel from a control theory perspective. The thing that makes this really cool, imo, is getting sufficiently accurate state estimation with just the cheap, robust IMUs and laser rangefinders. Most of the work in this area would depend on motion capture, which is finicky, not portable, expensive. This seems like something that is headed towards real deployments in a theme park, etc.
posted by scose at 1:11 AM on July 1, 2018

They could be the Secret Service in the Hall of Presidents.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:09 AM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

Hah- that was really fun to watch! Terrifying robotic dystopia futures aside, I think this is a great way to push the boundaries of what practical effects we can achieve in movies AND keep stunt people alive and healthy!
posted by Bibliogeek at 3:42 AM on July 1, 2018

Roko's stunt double.
posted by Pendragon at 3:53 AM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

I have both of these sentiments rollin' around in this one brain:

1. HOW COOL. Keep stunt people safe! Make movies even more awesome! Wow, look how far we're coming with this technology!

2. HOLY SHIT Y'ALL. MAKE IT STOP BEFORE IT....
posted by bologna on wry at 5:38 AM on July 1, 2018

Truly innovative. I finally got around to playing Uncharted: The Lost Legacy this week and noticed how many live stuntmen were credited at the end. It's a game series that amazes me because they did mocap for dramatic cutscenes, idles, etc., and that really brings the characters to life. Yet they're still hiring humans to do dangerous parts for mocap too! I never heard of robot stuntmen before, but I think it's brilliant. The more I think about it, the more it seems long overdue.
posted by heatvision at 8:12 AM on July 1, 2018

So Disney’s ability to fire a mannequin into a net proves that they have replicated human consciousness in silicon and created vast artificial minds beyond our comprehension?

In a certain light this sums up the history of AI pretty well.
posted by Segundus at 9:54 AM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

For those folks concerned with more lucrative military applications of this technology -- I think you might be underestimating just how profitable Disney's parks are.
posted by turbowombat at 10:21 AM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

In the future defense contractors will develop killer robots ostensibly for military purposes but in the actual hope they can be repurposed for Disney theme parks.
posted by ejs at 10:31 AM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

I like to imagine there is some military brass somewhere saying "yes, I understand that this technology needs a full support staff to set up the landing net, scaffolding and wire system beforehand, run the single preprogrammed routine and retrieve the robot afterwards, but our soldiers just can't pull off these kinds of rad midair poses on sick jumps and it would really give us an edge in the field."
posted by jason_steakums at 10:59 AM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

They replicate complex human movement with style and grace, and with perfect balance and poise. Anything you can do, they can replicate better.

Oh, come my love,
soothe my fevered brow.
Touch me there, oh, there.
I need you. Now!

patience my darling, i have forty minutes left
at my charging station
then once again
i'll take you to paradise

Okay. I'll be in the kitchen.
posted by mule98J at 7:00 AM on July 2, 2018