Former Imagineers Discuss the Judy Hopps Robot

Have you watched the SXSW video of Disney’s latest Audio-Animatronic? It’s mesmerizing:

MickeyBlog recently had the opportunity to speak with two former Disney Imagineers about this technology and what it indicates about the future of theme park experiences.

Here are highlights from our interview with Ryan Harmon and Joe Lanzisero, the President and Executive Vice President for Zeitgeist Design+ Production.

About Zeitgeist, Ryan Harmon, and Joe Lanzisero

Those who don’t work in the theme park industry may not know Zeitgeist USA. Here’s the description from the About page on their site:

“Zeitgeist Design & Production was founded in 2011 by president and chief creative officer Ryan Harmon.”

Photo: Zeitgeist

Previously, Harmon spent over two decades conceiving, writing, and creative directing themed entertainment projects around the world for major entertainment conglomerates, developers, and the many creative firms that have come and gone since 1987.”

Photo: Zeitgeist Design & Production

As for Joe Lanzisero, his resume speaks for itself, but here’s how Zeitgeist describes him:

“After 35 years as a Disney Imagineer, responsible for over US$9 billion in built projects, including Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland, Toy Story Land, Mystic Point and Grizzly Gulch at Hong Kong Disneyland, and dozens of classic Disney rides, shows, and attractions in the parks and aboard Disney Cruise Ships, Joe Lanzisero is a true celebrity of our industry.

Photo: Zeitgeist Design & Production

Here’s what the two theme park experts had to say about the next generation of “play” at Disney parks.

Editor’s note: For the sake of brevity, I’ve condensed some of the comments from a delightful conversation with two extremely bright people.

MickeyBlog: When you have a pitch like the Judy Hopps Audio-Animatronic that’s going to go into Zootopia, how scary is it to present something knowing the demo might fail?

I mean, it’s a lot of mechanical parts. And then you’re showing it to your boss. You don’t know what’s going to happen, and then you don’t know if they’re going to want it. So, what’s that like?

Photo: Disney

Joe Lanzisero: You know, I think, fortunately, Disney has created an atmosphere of taking risks and pushing the envelope and having people that understand high risk/high reward…that if you’re going to be the leader in an industry, you’ve got to be able to take a step out and not be afraid of failure.

So, I think once you have that as kind of a prevailing attitude, then you’re not afraid to go in front of the executives and show them something that might fail because they’re right there with you, understanding the potential and where that thing might go.

Photo: Disney

Ryan Harmon: Also, Disney has the luxury of an R&D group.

So, just like Apple is experimenting with cars and virtual reality and augmented reality, these people within Disney are charged with developing cool new things, and it’s not a “failure is not an option” thing.

It’s “Hey, let’s see what we can do with making robots roller skate…”

Photo: Disney

MickeyBlog: What do you think Judy Hopps tells us about the future of theme parks?

Ryan Harmon: Personally, I think it allows you to suspend your disbelief a little bit less and makes the magic more real in that a child will see this character and remember when they first learned how to roller skate and have empathy for it and emotion for it.

Photo: Disney

I assume the finished product is going to be furry and cute and have some facial features, maybe even a little facial expression. And it’ll be hard for a child to decipher whether this is real or a robot.

And I think for adults, we also are kind of blown away by the technology, the realism of it and the cuteness factor.

Photo: Disney

You know when somebody put it on their shoulder? The whole room went aww.

So, here we are just in the same way people cried when Snow White died, and the Dwarfs were crying over her grave, I think here we’re seeing people have feelings for some metal and electronics.

Photo: Disney

It’s pretty awesome that they’ve been able to evoke empathy and feelings from people over this little technology thing.

With the addition in the future of putting fur on it, putting a face on it, giving it a name, maybe adding some artificial intelligence so it can talk or have a conversation, we’ve got the beginnings of Westworld here!

Photo: Disney

MickeyBlog: I can’t help but think that Judy Hopps goes out there in armor. You’re not supposed to think about it, but she’s got a chest protector and a helmet on.

And you think the helmet is to make the endearing, “Oh, we don’t want her to fall. She’s a small child.” But you also kinda wonder, are there parts in that head that if they tear up, the whole thing’s gonna blow?

Photo: Disney

Ryan Harmon: What’s really cool is that we’ve seen the evolution of mobile animatronics at Disney, starting back with the Lucky the Dinosaur, and there was a Muppet thing, and now we have Grogu at Galaxy’s Edge, which is mind-blowing also.

And now, you’ve got a character walking around with no pack attached to it. Grogu is encapsulated in his own little flying crib thing, but with the Judy Hopps character or whatever it ends up being, there’s no battery pack. There’s no computer.

The Mandalorian and Grogu

It’s all self-contained, so that makes it a huge step into the future and also brings up the question of battery life, which you know they’re going to have to be clever about, like we talked about when the guy put it on his shoulder. Just have some kind of neckband battery charger.

So, she has a little thing in her butt that connects in that recharges her while she’s on his shoulder. So, he can put her down 10 minutes later, and she’s got enough power to do it again.

Photo: Disney

These are some of the things you have to think about. What happens when a child grabs her and hugs her?

They’ve got to figure all these logistics out and obviously finish it. It was just a dark gray plastic shell. It’s got a ways to go.

Photo: Disney

Joe Lanzisero: Ryan and I host a Zoom Cast if you haven’t seen it. It’s on once a month and is called The Spirit of the Times…

We always end with the question, “What makes an experience timely yet timeless?”

Photo: Disney

There’s a great quote from our mentor and cheerleader, Imagineer Marty Sklar. He said, “Walt always had one foot in the past and one foot in the future.”

The foot in the past was understanding the brand storytelling and the things that never changed that. You know, we’re all human beings, and we all are connected through our emotions.

Photo: D23, Marty Sklar

And then that other foot in the future, he said Walt was always looking for that next cool technology.

You know, the multiplane camera, stereophonic sound, and then Audio-Animatronics, which really moved the whole theme park experience forward.

Enchanted Tiki Room

So, we think about what’s going on with Judy Hopps and the little Tinkerbell that they showed (at SXSW). I think they’re all part of that. You know, timely yet timeless. One foot in the past, one foot in the future.

They’re all there to service the experience of creating a memory, creating some emotional connection with the guests, and that’s going to be the constant. You’re always going to want that.

Photo: Disney

And then you’ve got these amazing tools that are going to evolve, and like Ryan said earlier, just make the magic more magical.

Ryan Harmon: That’s exactly what it is. It started with Walt, and it’s the company carrying on in his absence and just continuing to develop new things.

I mean, Disney patented the Soarin’ ride system. They had the first monorail and the first animatronic. They’ve broken the mold on so many cool new things.

Photo: WDW Magazine

The R&D department is charged with that. And this is the cool, latest thing that came out of R&D.

And it’s pretty amazing. It’s gonna change things. Whether others will catch up, other robotics companies will be able to emulate it. I don’t know.

It might take a while. It just adds more magic to the parks.

Photo: D23

MickeyBlog: (New theme parks) are being based on characters. When we start talking about Judy Hopps and its importance, it seems like, generationally, this is what we’re looking at more with character interactions rather than the person in the fuzzy suit.

Am I getting too far ahead of myself?

New technology could change character meet-and-greets!

Joe Lanzisero: You know what, I think there’s probably always going to be a place for both because it’s context, too. It’s how and where you use things and what you can afford.

Disney has the benefit of having very, very, very deep pockets, a lot of capital. They fund this R&D group that’s there 365 days a year, innovating things like Judy Hopps.

Carousel of Progress animatronic

People at Universal that don’t necessarily have that in-house R&D piece, you know, they are good about finding technologies and then adapting them to whatever the context is of the show experience.

I kind of believe there’s gonna be a place for both: You know, good old-fashioned puppetry or good old-fashioned guy in a rubber suit along with this robotic stuff.

Photo: Disney

I think it’s how you blend it into the moment, whether it’s a live show or whether it’s a parade, or it’s in a ride.

I think there’s always going to be a place for all of it as long as it’s all in the service of that story piece that you’re trying to recreate for the guests and create an emotional moment.

Maleficent float in Festival of Fantasy Parade

Ryan Harmon: Yeah, and it’s based on the character.

Here, they are creating a Zootopia land in Shanghai, and they probably thought, “Hey, we’ve got this new tech? Why don’t we try to use it for one of those characters?”

Photo: Disney | Concept art of Zootopia land in Shanghai Disneyland

And they, you know, put the two together. And they had a reason to spend the money to develop it, and obviously, it doesn’t have to just be Judy Hopps. It could be another character.

It could be Yoda at Galaxy’s Edge, and it could scale up. It could scale down to Jiminy Cricket. You could add AI to it, and it could talk to people.

So, it’s just a next step in developing a mobile animatronic character that seems lifelike and real.

Photo: Disney

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