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These were the droids I was looking for, after all! Get your very own CrunchLabs Build Box! Get 2 FREE boxes at https://www.crunchlabs.com/Imagineers

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Thank you to Disney Imagineering for showcasing their new technology!

Thanks to these folks for providing some of the music in the video:

Ponder - @Pondermusic
Laura Shigihara - @supershigi
Andrew Applepie - https://soundcloud.com/andrewapplepie
Blue Wednesday - https://soundcloud.com/bluewednesday

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Category

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Fun
Transcript
00:00Today, I got lost in mysterious land filled with robots, ghosts, lasers, and oh yeah,
00:05some of the coolest technology on the planet.
00:07Hello.
00:08Because today, Science Bob decided to take me on a super exclusive tour of his favorite
00:14place ever.
00:15Disneyland?
00:16The people that make Disneyland happen.
00:18Go ahead.
00:19The Imagineers?
00:20We're here.
00:21I learned about these guys in high school.
00:24So fun.
00:25The Imagineers are the crazy geniuses who design, test, and create all the various attractions
00:30and spectacles at all of the Disney parks.
00:33And Science Bob secretly arranged a chance for us to meet them.
00:37The word Imagineering is a combination of imagination and engineering.
00:41So what we all do here is combine storytelling and creativity and engineering together to
00:46hopefully create some of the most magical places and experiences in the world.
00:50Let's go take a walk.
00:51Alright.
00:52I'm super excited for this tour because I grew up 10 minutes from Disneyland, so I've
00:56always been a big fan.
00:58A lot of the amazing things you see in the park started out as a simple sketch or foam
01:02model that just might accidentally get stepped on by Science Bob.
01:05Okay.
01:06You alright?
01:07Okay.
01:08I am also here a lot of money.
01:09You break it, you buy it.
01:11From these models, it was clear the Imagineers were masters of forced perspective.
01:15Which is where we make things further away a little bit smaller so they seem even further
01:19away.
01:20Which is a trick you can find all over the Disney parks.
01:22Like on Main Street in Disneyland where the second and third floors of the buildings are
01:26built at a smaller scale in order to make the scale of the whole street feel much bigger.
01:31And forced perspective is just one of their many tricks.
01:34Whoa.
01:35That just scared me so much.
01:37You see this and I was not prepared then to see this.
01:41Very effective use of a mirror here.
01:43That's genius.
01:44So welcome to the Blaine Gibson Sculpture Studio.
01:47Wow.
01:48I recognize so many of these.
01:49This is where we house a lot of the sculpts that became animatronics figures for Disney
01:54parks all around the world.
01:55I love that you have all this high tech, but it starts with clay.
01:58Arguably very low tech.
01:59The lowest tech.
02:00So what do you guys want to see next?
02:01We should do Studio C. Right this way.
02:04Studio C?
02:05What does that even mean?
02:06Turns out it means a sound mixing studio ringed with a kajillion speakers.
02:09And to get the full effect here, I recommend putting on some headphones for this next part.
02:14This is actually a system that allows us to render three dimensional objects of audio
02:18in space.
02:20Really?
02:21So if I close my eyes, you do like a person walking four feet to my left.
02:24Or inside your head.
02:25Whoa.
02:26Now that may have sounded like big words, but they quickly back them up by playing the
02:29audio of the Haunted Mansion ride.
02:32Welcome foolish mortals to the Haunted Mansion.
02:37Which truly sounded like a ghost flying in circles around my head.
02:40That's creepy.
02:41Oh no.
02:42That is in my brain.
02:44It's literally like he's flying around the room.
02:47They even let me control the software so I could finally prove to Bob that ghosts aren't
02:51real.
02:52Ah, it's crazy.
02:53It's all around.
02:54They're glowing.
02:55Or they actually are.
02:57Whoa.
02:58It's being controlled by a ghost.
03:01A ghost host.
03:02Greg explained that the studio tricks our brains by mimicking real life.
03:06Because if you hear a door slam off to your right, even with your eyes closed, the reason
03:10you still know the sound came from that direction is because the sound waves hit your right ear
03:14just milliseconds before your left ear.
03:16So your brain does the complicated math to make it just feel obvious to you.
03:20So in the studio, if you have the speaker on the right play a sound milliseconds before
03:24the speaker on your left, it hits your ear milliseconds earlier and tricks your brain
03:28into thinking the sound is only coming from that side.
03:31So even though we think the sound of this ghost is coming from just the speakers in
03:34the corner, in actuality, all the speakers in the room are playing the sound, just some
03:37are slightly delayed.
03:39And so we use all of those tricks in our sound design to fool your brain into thinking you're
03:43hearing things that you're not really hearing.
03:45I just had one more question.
03:46Can I touch one of these buttons?
03:48No!
03:49After promising to pay for everything I'd just broken, our tour guide informed us that.
03:54So I gotta go.
03:55I think you're fine on your own.
03:56I'll see you later.
03:57On our own?
03:58That feels like a mistake.
03:59Bob, where should we go?
04:00We're going to the model shop.
04:01Come on.
04:02The model shop?
04:03And with that, we wandered the halls of Disney Imagineering.
04:05Bob, you seem lost.
04:06I think it's this way.
04:07Luckily, we spotted a sign that told us we were definitely in the right spot.
04:11Whoa.
04:12I'm saying whoa a lot today, Bob.
04:14That's what Imagineering does to you.
04:15So look, say you've got a guy in a lab coat.
04:17We kind of snuck in here.
04:18No worries.
04:19Is this okay?
04:20Uh, sure.
04:21Okay.
04:22Yeah, as long as the top brass are cool with it.
04:23This may be your last day as an Imagineer.
04:26What is this?
04:27What we do here in the model shop, we design our attractions before we actually build them.
04:31Is this little thing part of the ride?
04:32We like to have fun in the shop, so we put little Easter eggs here and there.
04:36That's a good Easter egg.
04:37Sam explained to us that when designing a ride, it's super important to put yourself
04:40at the perspective of the audience.
04:42So you can just kind of squat down and kind of go through here.
04:45I'm liking it.
04:46However, it turns out as these rides get more complex, it's harder to get a good perspective
04:50with just your eyes.
04:51What Imagineers want to be able to do was...
04:53I sent a hamster through here with a camera.
04:56The hamster cam.
04:57Completely custom.
04:58I did this over a couple of evenings.
04:59It looks like a build box to me.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Oh, wow.
05:04This incredible piece of engineering not only had a 360 camera, but it's also packed with
05:08features like LED lighting, independent suspension, and an ingenious system to use the walls of
05:13the ride to turn the wheels, which allow this mini roller coaster to drive through any twist
05:18or turn.
05:19Very cool, Sam.
05:20It's not as adorable as a hamster, but it's a lot more practical.
05:23Yes.
05:24And with that, Bob and I had at last found the place we'd been looking for, the research
05:27and development wing of Imagineer.
05:28This is where all the real engineering takes place.
05:31Oh, wow.
05:32And after getting distracted just one more time...
05:35Look at that.
05:36That alone is such a good idea.
05:38Oh, my God.
05:39We're nerds.
05:40We finally found the thing us nerds love most.
05:42Robots.
05:43Oh, I know this.
05:46Roll the clip, because this is the coolest thing ever.
05:49Hey, can I help you guys?
05:53Hi, Tony.
05:54Do you know anything about these?
05:55A little bit.
05:56I feel like that was a humble little bit, Tony.
05:58They are our aerial stunt robots.
06:00Tony explained to us that this extremely complex stunt robot actually started out as just a
06:04pair of sticks they had stuck together using a pneumatic hinge and some sensor.
06:08Then it became a slightly more complex stick with two hinges.
06:11Because if we figured we can control that, we can start to see how it could be a person.
06:15So this is sort of the moment where we said, okay, let's go all in.
06:18We'll keep it pneumatic, build it fast.
06:20We called it Pneumataman.
06:21And when you launch them, they land in a net?
06:24Yeah.
06:25And that's how I did it with the squirrels.
06:26Roll the clip.
06:32When we started to do things with electric servos, we were really able to capture performance.
06:37And that's the big change from these pneumatic ones.
06:39Can it do it better than a human at this point?
06:42Yes, because we needed our launches to be about 10 G's.
06:45Who can actually hold onto a rope and do a 10 G?
06:48Well, Bob, for starters.
06:49But he's not available because he works at Crunch Labs.
06:53I love that someone just throws out an idea and then you're just like, let's do one part.
06:57Then make it better.
06:58Yeah, just one step at a time.
06:59I think the biggest mistake I think engineers make is they try and make this first.
07:03Start very simple to understand the principles, right?
07:05Lots of trial and error.
07:06For instance, we probably thrown that robot over a thousand times.
07:08I can tell.
07:09Wow.
07:10He says he's had some hard times.
07:11Look at that face.
07:13Looks just like Tom Holland.
07:14I don't want to.
07:15Next, we swung around to the other side of the building where we just happened to find.
07:19Oh, hey, we have visitors.
07:23This is Lanny.
07:24He's an absolutely legendary Imagineer who's patented more things than I can count.
07:28One of which is this.
07:29The world's only multi-user, expandable, modular, omnidirectional treadmill floor.
07:35Also known as a holo-tile.
07:37So I can walk in any direction.
07:39A number of people can be on that floor and they will never bump into each other.
07:43What the heck is happening here?
07:45The secret to the floor is this mechanism.
07:49Which works by simply using a series of these small angular discs that are controlled by
07:53two gears.
07:54One which turns the angle of the disc and the other that separately spins the top of
07:57the disc.
07:58And when you rotate a couple hundred of these discs in unison, you can super easily move
08:02objects in any direction.
08:04Wow.
08:05So simple.
08:06Like, how did I not think of this?
08:08And by using LIDAR sensors to see where your feet are, the holo-tiles can be programmed
08:12to move your feet in the opposite direction of your steps.
08:15Which very effectively simulates the feeling of a moving floor.
08:19That is so wild.
08:20I could never walk off this floor.
08:23I could probably do a killer moonwalk on this thing.
08:26And this thing is so cool, because when combined with VR screens, it can be used for tons of
08:30different stuff like video games, filmmaking, or even the Force.
08:34Oh, that feels amazing.
08:37It's like making cookies.
08:39Stir it.
08:43Took me a second to find the camera.
08:45Unfortunately for me though, Bob had also found the Force.
08:48It's for backup.
08:49Oh!
08:50Bob!
08:51The dark side of the Force.
08:53I'm sorry, you'll get that bonus after all!
08:56You can have President's Day off!
08:57I'm sorry!
08:58And as Bob and I were getting ready to go home, thinking our tour was over, we were
09:01distracted by the most adorable robot in existence.
09:05Oh my god!
09:06Hey little guy!
09:07Oh, he's coming fast!
09:08Hi!
09:09How are you?
09:10Hi!
09:11Should we follow you?
09:13This little droid quickly introduced us to all of his friends.
09:16Oh my goodness!
09:18Hi everyone!
09:19I'm Mark.
09:20Hi!
09:21Some of whom were clearly not subscribers.
09:23Hey!
09:24Oh no, he's scanning me.
09:25What are you doing?
09:26These droids were so lifelike and endearing, I was starting to believe they were really
09:29alive.
09:30Can I pet you?
09:31Oh, he likes it!
09:32He likes it!
09:33Until I looked around the room and saw four people holding remotes.
09:37This is Mike, the lead engineer, who explained that.
09:40We're really combining the gaming industry, animatronics, and robotics.
09:44These robots are kind of like real life video game characters and have a series of pre-programmed
09:49emotes that they can do.
09:51Jump!
09:52Which are amazingly effective at bringing these characters to life.
09:56He's clearly interested in me.
09:57Yeah.
09:58Okay, maybe not.
10:00These things are bipedal.
10:01I've got to imagine there's a lot of work that needs to happen so they don't tip over.
10:04Typically when you're animating, you're not considering physics.
10:07For sure.
10:08If we took the animation and just played it on a robot, they would just fall over.
10:10So in order to keep these droids standing while also performing complex animations,
10:14the Imagineers trained the droids using a technique called reinforcement learning.
10:18So you think of a baby learning how to walk.
10:20Try something, maybe falls down.
10:22Try something slightly different, falls down again.
10:24The robot's doing something very similar.
10:26Basically, these droids get put in a virtual physics environment where they run through
10:30thousands and thousands of simulations in which they get pushed or tripped.
10:34And so with every iteration, they get better at teaching themselves how not to fall.
10:39So can I like gently push one of these and see what happens?
10:42You can.
10:43Oh, he said no.
10:44Hey, get back here.
10:45Can I have a volunteer?
10:46Okay, pal.
10:47I'm going to push you.
10:48Are you excited?
10:49Okay, that's a yes.
10:50All right.
10:51Oh, you're sturdy that way.
10:52It may seem harsh to push this cute little guy, but because of reinforcement learning,
10:55it was something he'd seen a thousand times before and therefore knew how to react to
11:00stay upright.
11:01Wow.
11:02I love that.
11:03As mechanical as they are, like all of you guys bring it to life.
11:08I know.
11:09And with that, Bob and I both knew what we had to do.
11:12All right.
11:13Time for battle bots.
11:14Let's go.
11:15And it turned out that's where they drew the line.
11:20As they finally escorted us out of the building, our guide mentioned something.
11:23I guarantee someone watching this right now is a future Imagineer.
11:26Oh.
11:27Spending a day with the Disney Imagineers really showed me that the core of everything
11:30they do is the same mission we have at Crunch Labs.
11:33Loving to create new things is what makes scientists and what makes engineers successful
11:38without a doubt.
11:39And that's the same attitude we apply to all our build boxes, where you can learn the
11:42identical engineering concepts these Imagineers use to build the future of theme parks.
11:47So whether you end up here at Crunch Labs, or as an Imagineer, or even working at NASA,
11:51your engineering journey can start today if you just pay attention to the magic all around
11:56you.