New Disney Robot Uses Air-Water Actuators to Move Around Smoothly

Jimmy is a new robotic puppet that has been designed and developed by Disney Research.  It is a Hybrid Hydrostatic Transmission and Human Safe Haptic Telepresence Robot and moves with ultra fine precision. What makes Jimmy different from other robots is that it uses hybrid air and water actuators to move with a fluid motion and can successfully mimic the gestures of a human arm. But, although the robot can move with speed, grace, and agility, it does need to be controlled by an operator. So in effect is more of a puppet than a robot, but still very cool nonetheless.

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The marvelous Disney creation has been seen waving at people, playing patty-cake with a child, dancing, picking up and cracking and egg, and drumming on a table among a whole host of other things.  Although currently, Jimmy requires a puppeteer to work, future models are going to be autonomous.  When in use, the puppeteer will be able to move Jimmy’s arms as well as feel when the robot gets moved or touched and is so precise that the operator could even put thread through the eye of the needle.  The so-called puppeteers also have the luxury of live video feeds from mounted stereo cameras that really get them into the robot’s workspace for better functioning.

Although Jimmy is not yet ready for Disney’s many parks just yet, it does have lots of potentials.  It wouldn’t be the first time that telepresence robots have been used in the entertainment industry.   Many theme parks already employ this type of technology by allowing characters to naturally interact with visitors, but with Disney Research’s breakthrough they may just be one step ahead.

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