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AUTOMATRONICS

An autonomous robotics platform designed to navigate crowded spaces safely, and with character.

AUTOMATRONICS is a fully-autonomous mobility system not only capable of navigating the expansive, unstructured, crowded, and chaotic indoor and outdoor environments of a theme park, but also able to move through space and interact with park patrons in a way that feels interpretable, believable, and most importantly, compellingly alive.

MICHAEL LED the CREATIVE DESIGN and TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT of the platform, as well as a series of successful public-facing test deployments at Disneyland Park. He also led the effort to productize the platform. In the productization phase, the team grew to include more than 30 people across two countries.  The effort included scope definition, business justification for capital authorization, contract negotiation, vendor management, hardware and software engineering, creative tools development, internal stakeholder engagement, safety standards and regulatory engagement, and the filing of multiple patents related to the work. 

THE RESULT is a weather-hardened, standards-compliant, creatively-flexible autonomous mobility platform that meets the extreme operational, safety, and durability standards required to safely interact with humans of all ages in Disney theme parks worldwide.

ROBOT NAVIGATION IN THE CONTEXT OF OBSTACLE TRAFFIC 

INCLUDING MOVEMENT OF GROUPS 

US20190176333A1

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2017

COMMUNICATIVE SELF-DRIVING AUTOMATION

US20190224850A1

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2018

INTERACTIVE AUTONOMOUS ROBOT CONFIGURED WITH IN-CHARACTER SAFETY RESPONSE PROTOCOLS

US20200097011A1

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2019

INTERACTIVE AUTONOMOUS ROBOT CONFIGURED FOR DEPLOYMENT WITHIN A SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

Pending

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2020

INTERACTIVE AUTONOMOUS ROBOT CONFIGURED FOR PROGRAMATIC INTERPRETATION OF SOCIAL CUES

Pending

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2020

ASSOCIATED PATENTS

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