Earlier this week, Imagineers tested BD-1 Style free roaming droids in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. Following this test, Bob Iger (Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company) and Josh D’Amaro (Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products) met with Bruce Vaughn (Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Imagineering) and representatives of the Imagineering team responsible for bringing the new robots to Galaxy’s Edge.
Iger and D’Amaro meet with Vaughn and Disney Imagineering
In an Instagram post, Walt Disney Imagineering shared a peek behind the scenes at a meeting of the minds: Iger, D’Amaro, Vaughn, and research and development cast members behind some of Disney Imagineering’s projects.
The post reads, “Following a playtest of our latest free-roaming robotic characters inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at @disneyland, Bruce Vaughn and R&D Imagineers shared key learnings and discussed next steps with Bob Iger and @joshdamaro. We’re so excited about the variety of ways our Imagineers are bringing new and innovative characters to life using sophisticated technology hidden in little droids like these!”
Do you think Disney Imagineering is gearing up to finally have free roaming droids at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Let us know in the comments.
Photos and Video from This Week’s BD Droid Playtest
The most commonly known BD droid is BD-1, Cal Kestis’ droid companion from the “Jedi Fallen Order” video game series. Other BD droids have been seen in the franchise, including working for Peli Motto in “The Book of Boba Fett.” The BD driods at Black Spire Outpost at Disneyland are “in training.”
There are three BD units. Cast Members were calling them by their colors: orange, green, and blue.
They went to visit their friends outside Droid Depot.
Watch them in action in our video below.
Disney Research Team’s Child-Size Bipedal Walking Robot
Earlier this week, the Disney Research Team unveiled a new child-size walking robot during a presentation at the 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in Detroit. The robot, which is the same as the BD unit that was “training” in Disneyland today, is related to the patent Disney recently filed for a bipedal robot with different walking styles.
The test robot was built using mostly 3D printed materials, with modular hardware and actuators to allow for evolution in its design. Its head can look up, down, around, and tilt; its legs have five degrees of movement, along with hip joins to keep it balanced while in motion.
The robot also utilizes a reinforcement-learning system, which “relies on simulation to combine and balance the vision of an animator with robust robotic motions.” This allows the robot to handle anything it encounters in its environment, while still emoting.
Roaming Droid Plans Scrapped
Originally, interactive, roaming droids were promised to appear in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, though that project never came to fruition.
According to sources, Disney decided that the lands would be too crowded in the opening weeks and months at Disneyland and Walt Disney World to have the droids attempt to roll through the streets of Batuu without fail or incident. And now, four years after both lands have opened, there are still no regular roaming droids in either land.
In December 2019, an article in the Orange Country Register revealed that Walt Disney Imagineering had no plans to use autonomous character technology in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and that all exploratory tests were just that — tests.
Droid Tests Over the Years
Disney Imagineering has tested autonomous roaming droids several times over the years, including J4-K3 (“Jake”) in 2017 and R2-D2 in 2020.
In the case of R2, the astromech droid was flanked by two handlers, and required the help of a “friend” to control his movements. Previously, the droid was confined to the interior of the Droid Depot shop.
Watch our videos of Jake and R2-D2 roaming around Disneyland below:
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