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Comment by gkoberger | Hacker News Reader

Eh, maybe. I have a less myopic view... I think their Imagineers just like pushing the envelope, and there's a difference between awesome tech vs things that can withstand the wear-and-tear of millions of guests.

Nothing about all that tech makes me think Olaf could withstand a hug from an excited kid.

Disney does a ton of R&D that doesn't directly make it into the parks, such as smokeless fireworks (they donated the patent for this) and their holotile floor (basically an endless VR room you can walk around). I imagine they don't know the practicality at the start, like any good R&D.

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Each time they trot out one of these new robots they strongly imply, if not outright promise, that they will become part of the parks[1], that's the problem. Things like HoloTile are accurately marketed which makes me believe it's a choice they're making with the character robots.

1. The article states "he’s soon making his debut at Disney parks," which is misleading to a casual reader who may not realize that Olaf will only appear on the day of his debut.

It seems like an expectations mismatch to me? At what point did "soon to be making his debut at Disney Parks" switch from "as a background character in a ride somewhere" or "seen in the distance surrounded by handlers" versus "hanging out in the middle of crowds to get directly pushed/touched?"

There definitely are some marketing mistakes that have led to that, and certainly a lot of these projects seem to be in the direction of "one day, maybe, these will be crowd pleasers", but it still seems to me a bit funny how often casual intepretation seem to be "I can't wait to touch and play with the new Lincoln animatronic at the Hall of Presidents". It's not an R&D failure for Imagineering to keep building cooler animatronics even if most guests will only ever see them behind glass or rope or in other areas just out of touch. That's always been Disney's way of using robots for magic. The dream of "one day I can touch them and play with them" certainly lives on, of course, and these projects seem walking a few steps at a time towards that dream, but it seems weird to dismiss them as failures when they turn out to be just "normal" Disney tools for magic that try to create an illusion of being right next to you but don't allow for touching.

> "as a background character in a ride somewhere" or "seen in the distance surrounded by handlers"

I can see why you're confused. Either of those possibilities would be acceptable and exciting, neither are going to happen.

Olaf (like the walking droids, flying x-wings, etc. before it) has so far made one single appearance in the parks on an off day, which was treated like a photoshoot. The photos from that shoot will be used in park promotional materials for years, incorrectly giving casual observers the impression that this is something that happens regularly.

If Walt Disney had advertised the Lincoln animatronic as being a part of the 1964 worlds fair, but only exhibited it for a few hours one time, he would have been ridiculed too.

I suppose I'm just a little bit more tolerant of "a photoshoot on an off day" as a variant of "seen in the distance surrounded by handlers". I get where the disappointment is coming from, though.

Also this thing can probably be tipped over pretty easily endangering itself or guests.

The character shape lends itself to a low center of gravity but the fluidity of the motion implies light weight or strong motors.

An angsty kid giving Olaf a good shove or kick could be expensive and fast moving robotics are either dangerous or brittle

Everything about this chassis strongly suggests no guest touching will be allowed.

In addition to the points you've highlighted, the examples in the video and the images of the character strongly suggest it'll be a soft outer shell. I'd be more worried about a kid shoving it finding themselves caught by an internal pinch-point than damage to the robot.

  > things that can withstand the wear-and-tear of millions of guests.

In the video, one of the presenters removes and reattaches Olaf's nose. The robot laughs and loves it. I thought to myself, how many kids tearing at that wear item will this survive? I think the answer is significantly less than the thousands of kids who are expected to see this attraction every day.

> how many kids tearing at that wear item will this survive?

Idk about that. It is just a plastic part with magnets in it. Sounds like it would be easy to replace on a regular basis.

I would be a lot more concerned about kids tripping the robot over if they are allowed to interact with the robot that closely.

The removable nose is a power move from the engineers who built the thing. You cannot possibly believe that the animatronic contribution here is 100% contingent on a carrot?

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