Disney creates new way to interact with animated characters

Steve Liebman July 30, 2017

1 minute read

Disney Research has created a new platform to allow people to interact with animated characters.

Called Magic Bench, this allows people to sit on a bench and see and hear a character near them on a screen in front of them. However, the big change is that when the character sits on the bench, you feel the actual movement.

©Disney

Disney Research has created an item called the Magic Bench.

The idea behind this is to allow people to interact with mixed reality and augmented reality without having to do this with a phone or any kind of device. There is no need to wear headset or visors as is done now.

According to the research paper, the idea is to free people up and allow more than one person to interact with the same character. So instead of using a device, Disney has wired the environment – specificity a bench.

While watching a monitor you would be able to see and with speakers here the character. When the character touches the bench, you feel the bench move. You can also interact with the characters. In one example in the video here, you’ll see an elephant hand off an orb to the participant.

In another example, the participant touches the character and the character responds.

Can you imagine sitting on a bench next yo your favorite character and having a conversation, or even play catch.