"Shocked, I may have seen the real Abraham Lincoln," "This tall, lonely man sitting in a chair resembles the stone statue at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.," "It's just that this Lincoln is life-size and seems to have flesh and blood."
This is what Robert De Roos, author of "The Wizarding World of Walt Disney," published in National Geographic magazine in 1963, described his feelings about seeing "Lincoln" during a visit to a new theme park.
Not only is this Lincoln realistic, but he can also make 15 different expressions, which is a product of Disney's unique technology of "Audio-Animatronics").
▲ How Lincoln made it. Image credit: National Geographic
But now, when we see Lincoln again, it may be difficult to feel the shock of the 60s, even "one look fake". Our eyes have been trained for many years in CGI (Computer 3D Animation) on the big screen.
Faced with the more critical eyes of the crowd, Disney sent Walt Disney Imagineering to pick up the call.
▲ Baby Groot
And WDI also moved out the stuff that had been researching the bottom of the pressure box for several years, not only creating a small Groot, but also arranging a Spider-Man.
▲ Spider-Man stuntman who has not yet put on a suit. Image credit: Gigazine
Currently, the Spider-Man will appear in the Project of Spider-Webs: The Adventures of Spider-Man in the Avengers Park.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > from "bricks" to stuntmen</h1>
The gameplay of "Spider's Web" is more traditional and not exciting, but Spider-Man's high-altitude performance is a highlight of this project. Without the protection of a safety rope, "Spider-Man" will be thrown 20 meters into the air by spider silk, just like Peter Parker in the movie, making tumbling, pressing down, forking legs and other movements in the air.
▲ Concept map of the cobweb-walking project. Image courtesy of Disney
The Spider-Man flies several times a day, and if he were a live-action stuntman, he would risk his life with each jump. In view of this, WDI created a stunt robot to play "Spider-Man" to complete this challenge.
The robotic stuntman is only responsible for loosening the tow rope at the right angle, then tumbling in the air and finally stretching out and landing in the buffer net.
In other words, it does not walk, talk and interact, at this time the Dutch brother should breathe a sigh of relief and give WDI a thumbs up.
Although the performance process is mechanical enough, even a little boring, there are still quite a few difficulties that WDI needs to overcome.
The timing of "body folding", the timing of letting go, the stability of posture in the air, and the control of landing (netting), etc.
Before becoming the "Spider-Man" of Disneyland, WDI developed four generations of stunt robots.
The original prototype was a robot called the brick, which controlled the center of gravity, attitude in the air, and autonomous rotation.
On this basis, WDI developed a stick robot (Stickman), that is, adding a foldable mechanism to the bricks, simulating the shape of one leg and one arm.
Through procedural control, when swinging on the rope, first bend the knee to accelerate, when a certain angle is reached, the "release hand" swings into the air with the help of inertia, while stretching the body, and by the "bricks" in it to make a perfect turn, and finally lie flat on the net.
From there, a complete set of simulated "Spider-Man" movements are completed as they move between buildings.
WDI combined two sets of stickmans to form a humanoid form, which became a prototype. On this basis, a series of optimizations such as optimization and collaboration were carried out, and eventually it became Stuntronics' humanoid stunt robot.
From the stick robot to the final Stuntronics, the WDI team omitted a lot in the Wired interview and didn't focus on the team's efforts.
It's more about how to be more like the real Spider-Man and ensure safety.
▲ While wandering around the city, playing with your phone
Tony of the development team, "it takes 100% precision to make robots," said to make Stuntronics more human-like, "the team designed and calculated and simulated many sets of motions for Stuntronics to present a risky Peter Parker."
During the performance, Stuntronics may make a perfect set of front flips in the air, or they will only extend one arm and do a lateral flip, or do a set of extremely twisted tumbling and rotating, in short, how to do it.
The impact of the approximately 40-kilogram Stuntronics from a free fall of 20 meters can be imagined, so the WDI team continuously monitored the climate and wind speed of Disneyland Adventure in California for a year and classified it into Stuntronics' action algorithm.
In outdoor tests, the Spider-Man stuntman's landing points are within the controllable range.
The landing point, or landing area, is actually a deceleration net of about 4 meters long, but Stuntronics, which flies several times a day and works all year round, can not break the deceleration net on any day, resulting in irreparable losses (mainly Stuntronics is relatively expensive).
Stuntronics' housing is made of resin and is made by a 3D printer, and even if the deceleration mesh breaks, the WDI team says the resin casing protects the expensive and sophisticated motherboard, processor, and corresponding wiring inside.
At present, Stuntronics' Spider-Man is only planned to appear at Disneyland Adventure park in California and Disneyland Studios Paris for the time being, and the rest of the region has not yet announced the corresponding plans.
If the dedicated stuntman plays Spider-Man on the Internet, Disney will invite it to the world's parks, and even naturally let Stuntronics play more superhero roles.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" > Disney wants more of an actor</h1>
Robots can be described as the darlings of the current market and capital, before there are well-known Internet celebrity Boston Dynamics robots, after Tesla AI day Tesla Bot, and then to the domestic millet, Xiaopeng and other companies have launched similar robot products.
▲ Actor who plays Tesla Bot. Image credit: Tesla
They are all heavily associated with AI, or they are more like robots with a certain "autonomous" ability. On Disney's side, the robots that appear or participate in the show are more like "passive" on the surface.
In interviews, Stuntronics' development team never mentioned AI, or even a complex processor. The stuntman built a smartphone-like gyroscope and speedometer to sense space and state information, and three lidars were installed at the joints to measure the distance.
The so-called built-in algorithm may only preset a few actions, and does not have its own deductive characteristics.
Before the appearance of Spider-Man's stuntman, Disney also brought baby Groot into reality.
Similar to Stuntronics, who are already preparing to work, Groot Jr. will also appear in Disney's corresponding projects in the future, and the functions are relatively close, which can be called "entertainment" robots.
Unlike the products of other companies, robots bear many heavy responsibilities and represent the company's intelligent and functional strength. After several changes of ownership, Boston Dynamics' focus has returned to practicality, and SPOT has been sent to the battlefield and special environments, bringing more efficient labor to related enterprises.
Although Tesla Bot is more like a Musk-style "gimmick" at this stage, it shows Tesla's achievements in AI from the side and a general direction of future development. There is no specific industrial form, and the humanoid shape can be better integrated into society and replace us to do some boring work.
These robots of Disney are directly under the Disneyland, playing the role of picking up people and performing, bringing spectacles and wonders.
Stuntronics, who play Spider-Man, has gone through four generations, progressing from the most primitive brick robot to the stick robot, and the ultimate goal may not be just to perform Spider-Man jumping.
After all, Disney has not yet acquired Marvel earlier, and the copyright of Spider-Man is still in the hands of Sony, and Stuntronics has become a machine Spider-Man more like a modification from the original technical reserves.
▲ Interactive robot prototype announced by Disney in May 2016. Image courtesy of Disney
Disney's Fantasy Works department has many prototypes similar to stick robots, and humanoid, interactive, and low intelligence are the more similarities between them.
▲ The Avengers Base park was launched on June 4th. Image courtesy of Disney
Just like Disney's proud Audio-Animatronics in 1963, the initial purpose of investment and research in robots was to serve Disneyland, and the goal was very clear, that is, to move the world in Disney movies and animation into reality and become a magical world in the real world.
In simple terms, Disney's goal may be a sunny version of Westworld, while other companies want to build Bicentennial Man.
Just from now on, it seems that Disney is a little closer to the target?