My brother used to work for Disney Animatronics, so I knew they
worked on things like this. And if you
have ever been to a Disney theme park, then you know that they are a leader and
innovator in this area.
Having said that, this is cool to share. Disney researchers invented a humanoid animatron that plays a lifelike game
of catch.
They used an external camera system to track the balls and an
algorithm to predict where and when the ball would fall. When the robot misses
a catch, it looks back or down at where the ball fell, shrugs, or shakes its
head. This guy was designed for theme parks, but one day it will be playing
catch with our children and fetch with our dogs. Next they should program it to
make dad jokes.
