Frozen Figure Updates: Disney's Animatronic Break-throughs
Olaf
First, Olaf looks spectacular. We're all used to Disney being able to make high quality art. But the engineering in this one is a step above what they've done before. Disney has trialled free-roaming robots like the droids at Galaxy's Edge and the larger figures like Lucky the Dinosaur or the Muppets Mobile Lab. but when Dart from How to Train Your Dragon debuted at Epic Universe earlier this year, I thought Universal was clearly winning the mobile animatronics race. In addition to being mobile, this quadruped figure was able to move like the character; its gait was adorable, and it was more than just a one-and-done deononstration. These were features that Disney had worked on, but had not been able to solidify for a permanent fixture in the parks. Take R2-D2 as an example. R2 is popular when he visits Galaxy's Edge. However, his expression is limited and his movement is simplistic. He beeps and boops and turns his head. This is true to the character, but technologically, it's not as advanced. Dart has limbs, can move this way and that, bounces up and down, and make facial gestures. This is a much more advanced figure.
Olaf, on the other hand, is a biped: he walks on two feet. Anyone who's seen a baby try to walk or saw Asimo at Innoventions in Disneyland knows that two-legged balance is a difficult feat. And Olaf not only balances on his one foot, but he also waddles to matches the gait of the character. Keep in mind that Olaf was designed for an animated world where the laws of physics could be bent to achieve a certain look for the character; it's impressive to see that this figure can replicate that motion. It will be interesting to see how often Olaf is allowed to come out for guests. If he has balance issues in the lab still, that may mean he only comes out occasionally. He may also be a figure that is seen from afar rather than being up close with guests. At this point, he's unlikely to be able to reach the stability of a Droid or a quadruped like Dart.
The Disney Parks Blog post indicates this is a prototype. Hopefully, this figure doesn't go the way of the X-Wing drones from Galaxy's Edge's opening.
Facial Projections
Disney announced that the animatronics for Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff on Epcot's Frozen Ever After will be updated to use physical faces instead of projected ones. The idea of using digital projection for an animatronic face has been used on other attractions, but some of its problems became more apparent on Frozen.
First, the face has to be made of a screen rather than the same materials as the rest of the animatronic figure. This makes an awkward seam between the face and the rest of the head, where guests can see the transition from physical features to the projected ones. The Buzz Lightyear figure at Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters in Disneyland used similar facial projections. However, buzz wears a tight purple hood around his face. The hood wraps around the edge of his face and creates a boundary, so there was no need to blend Buzz's physical features from his head into his face. Hiding the edges of the screen makes the illusion more believable. Even older facial projections, like Madame Leota, did what they could to avoid seams.
The second issue for these figures is lighting. While animatronics rely on having the lights on to see the figure, projections rely on having the lights off to see the video. This conflict makes lighting a difficult problem to solve. It means the lights have to be bright enough that you can see the set and the environments and most of the figure, but dim enough not to wash out the projection on the faces. The imagineers are lighting experts, but the faces never looked quite right. Do a quick Google search for Frozen projected faces, and you'll see dozens of comparison images. Here's one from Blog Mickey.
Since these issues aren't new, why did Disney choose to use a projected face before, and are now changing to the physical one?
The first reason is purely technical capability. The mechanics required for facial motion likely took too much space. As robotic technology has developed over the last decade, it's gotten smaller and can now fit in the confined spaces of an animatronic. That extra time has given the advancement needed to be able to do it.
Another reason is expressiveness. While robotic technology is increasing, there is currently more reliability in video projection and animation, because these are done in more places and we are more practiced at them. The fact that Disney is moving towards the mechanical figures indicates that they solved reliability and controllability problems of the past.
It is also important to note that the Hong Kong and Tokyo versions of the ride, which both opened more than 7 years after Epcot's, use fully mechanical figures. With that context, it seems unlikely that projected faces will be used in the near future, since the robotics seem to be at a point that it can replicate motion well enough on its own.
