Some scary news from the patent office:
https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/04/disney-files-patent-for-huggable-and-interactive-robots/
>>>The patent, which was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel, has a suitably warm and fuzzy name: "Soft body robot for physical interaction with humans." It describes mostly rigid robots, with the exception of "fluid-filled voids," "flexible membranes," and "pressure sensors," and these would all work in tandem to guide the robots' joint motion. Ideally, this would result in "a soft, modular robot that is huggable and interactive."
>>>According to the filing, Disney's inventors have already tested prototypes of this hugging robot with children, and in those tests, "the robot was robust to playful, physical interaction." (We assume that is science-speak for "nobody was hugged to death.")
Anyone else find this makes them feel terribly uneasy?
Tweet
Here's the original article, dated April 7.
If this is how we get Baymax back into the parks, I'll okay it.
(feeling old)
This may lead to even more realistic characters(or not). We'll see how it goes.
Don't we already sort of have that with Lucky the Dinosaur, Push the Trashcan, and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew?
I'd like to offer the names Maeve and Bernard for two of the new robots.
Very fitting for a Disneyworld where robots will go haywire and cause violence and death.
This discussion has been archived and is no longer accepting responses.
Uh, Chad, the date on this article wasn't 4-1-17, was it?