Disney Imagineering Moves the AI Bar by Encouraging BDX Droids ‘to Emote,’ Telling Them ‘You Are Smart’

Walt Disney created Imagineering in 1952 as a place where inventors, engineers and designers could tinker with, test and innovate using the latest technology, while developing experiences and attractions for the Disney properties around the world. These days, it’s no surprise that one of these areas involves artificial intelligence, which is contributing to Disney’s pioneering work in robotics.

More specifically, Imagineering is using a branch of AI called reinforcement learning, which is effectively an area of machine learning involving learned behavior. The tech’s first deployment can be seen in Disney’s charismatic, pint-size BDX droids, which Imagineering Research & Development senior vice president Kyle Laughlin describes as a “huge leap forward” for robotics, and more specifically, in “bringing these beloved characters to life in the real world.”

These emotive bipeds have been charming fans since they greeted visitors at Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in the fall of 2023. More recently, they have made appearances at events ranging from SXSW in Austin, Texas, to tech giant NVIDIA’s GTC AI conference in Silicon Valley.

At Imagineering, the primary purpose of this advanced tech is to infuse characters such as these deft droids with more lifelike personality, while a more practical use is speeding up development.

“A process that used to take years, can now be done in days and weeks, [giving us the] ability to bring characters to our guests in a speed that is unmatched in terms of the way that we’ve worked in the past,” Laughlin says. “What sets them apart, though, is that spark of personality. When guests see those droids, they’re full of life and they always make people smile, and that’s really what we’re after.”

For a potted history, mechanical creations of its iconic characters have long been a staple of Disney attractions. These include an area known as audio animatronics (a marriage of the physical characters with sound), which debuted at Disneyland in 1963 with the Tiki Room birds. Since the 1960s, they have appeared in attractions from Pirates of the Caribbean to It’s a Small World. More recent developments in this area include characters found in attractions such as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, a highlight of Galaxy’s Edge, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure flume ride. Meanwhile, progress in stuntronics allows visitors at the Avengers Campus at Disney’s California Adventure to see Spider-Man swinging 65 feet in the air.

As Disneyland celebrates its 70th anniversary, the next stage, led by the BDX droids, involves AI. Now, more autonomous BDX droids have started to mingle with guests at Disney parks in Florida, Paris and Tokyo as well as at sea on Disney cruise ships.

With AI, Laughlin relates, “what we’re able to do now more than ever, is use the artist’s intent. We use animation — which one could think of as a sort of previsualization — to define the personality of each of these characters, these BDX droids, and we take that into simulation [where] we teach them to walk, we encourage them to, like a child, learn how to move, balance and to emote.”

This, he continues, allows the Imagineers to create “millions” of simulations while maintaining the artist’s intent through the animation. “Rather than hand programming that, like we had done in the past, we’re able to focus on the things that sets them apart. … They’re able now to think about how they move, how they emote, and how guests might engage with them once we’ve taken that simulation and we’ve actually applied it to the robot.”

Development has been brisk. In March, NVIDIA, Google DeepMind and Disney Research announced a collaboration to co-create Newton, an open-source physics engine aimed at letting robots learn how to handle complex tasks with greater precision. One of the first uses of Newton is to advance the robotic character platform behind the BDX droids. To demonstrate this potential, one such scene-stealer, a BDX droid named Blue, joined NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang on stage during his company’s GTC AI developers conference keynote last March, where the partnership was announced. “This is how we are going to train robots in the future,” Huang explained, telling the droid “you are smart.”

Laughlin confirms that Newton will be part of Imagineering’s next generation of robotics and characters. “The BDX droids are just the beginning,” he says. “We’re committed to bringing more characters to life in ways the world hasn’t seen before, and this collaboration with Disney Research, NVIDIA and Google DeepMind is a key part of that vision.”

To forward this initiative, Imagineering additionally enjoys a close partnership with the Disney studios such as Lucasfilm and visual effects innovator Industrial Light & Magic, which are involved in the BDX droid project. “It’s that kind of creative spark and that collaboration together,” Laughlin says of the formula.

In fact, he relates that the BDX droids were actually inspired by a video game, “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order,” before they were brought to life and debuted in the Disney parks. Since then, the BDX droids have also made it to Hollywood, as they are set to appear in Jon Favreau’s film “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which is scheduled for a May 22, 2026 theatrical release. Rather than creating computer-generated droids for the movie, the BDX droids themselves are “performing” during live production. Says Laughlin, “we were actually on set with those robots and interacting with the actors.”

Looking ahead, a H.E.R.B.I.E. bot will be the next creation, scheduled to debut this summer as part of Disney and Marvel’s Fantastic Four IP, connected to the “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” theatrical release on July 25.

“This is just the start, the company plans to deploy more expressive, interactive characters across parks and cruise lines,” Laughlin relates, noting that this is part of Disney’s announced $60 billion investment over the next decade in new attractions and expansion. “Our whole goal is to bring these characters to life faster than ever. And so artificial intelligence and reinforcement learning are important tools in driving that time frame down, and to get that those characters in front of guests as quickly as possible.”

He also emphasizes that the difference in these new bots will be personality and autonomy. “I think you’re going to be able to see even more expressive characters in the future, and [fans] interacting with those characters throughout the parks is really, ultimately our goal,” Laughlin adds. “We have so many characters that can’t necessarily be performed by a performer, so we need to be able to unlock these characters and have them be able to roam throughout the parks.”

He hints, “We have a robust roadmap of free ranging characters that we’re excited to announce at some future point in time, that we hope to populate our worlds with.”