Interactive Droids Steal the Show
Real-life droids from the Star Wars franchise captivated audiences at Nvidia’s annual software developer conference in San Jose, California, on Wednesday (March 19). Disney showcased two lifelike droids that can walk, dance, and express emotions, allowing attendees to interact with them at the Nvidia booth in the San Jose Convention Center.
Moritz Baecher, a 44-year-old robotics researcher for Disney, highlighted the droids’ expressive abilities. “It can express happiness, it dances, but it can also express that it’s shy at the moment… It’s these emotions – it’s sort of a fully complete character that we were able to build. I think that touches people,” he said.
Star Wars Droids Take the Stage
One of the droids made a special appearance during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech on Tuesday. Known as BDX Droids, these robotic creatures have been featured in The Mandalorian TV series and two Star Wars video games, Fallen Order and Survivor.
“You see not a mechanical system, you see a believable robotic character that emotes, right?” Baecher explained.
Advanced Robotics with Puppeteer Control
Although the droids are not fully autonomous, they possess impressive capabilities. A puppeteer operates them using a controller, but they manage their own balance and walking patterns. This is made possible through reinforcement learning, a technique that allows the droids to refine their movements over time.
These advanced robotic characters have already engaged with guests at Disney theme parks and other Disney locations. They even made a recent appearance on a Disney cruise, continuing their tour across various Disney properties.
With inputs from Reuters