A high-flying Spider-Man autonomous “stuntronic” robot will swing above rooftops and perform midair acrobatic feats when the new Avengers Campus opens this summer at Disney California Adventure.
Disney posted a slow-motion video to social media of a Spider-Man stunt robot performing somersaults and backflips against a black background at a “top secret location.”
“Spider-Man as you’ve never seen him before,” boasted Disney’s video post to Twitter. “Spider-Man will soon swing into action above Avengers Campus opening this summer at Disney California Adventure park.”
The new video appears to show an autonomous audio-animatronic stunt robot developed by Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development as part of the Stuntronics Project.
Spider-Man will soon swing into action above Avengers Campus opening this summer at Disney California Adventure park at @Disneyland! https://t.co/1NRk2ysUVo #avengerscampus #disneyland pic.twitter.com/4YNsu1qkqb
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) January 30, 2021
The new Marvel super hero land coming to Disney California Adventure promises to wow visitors with Spider-Man swinging across the sky, Captain America leaping from rooftops and Doctor Strange conjuring up magic spells.
The first phase of the new Avengers Campus themed land will open this summer with a Spider-Man attraction, Doctor Strange show, Ant-Man and the Wasp restaurant and Marvel character meet-and-greets and rooftop shows. A second phase will open at an unannounced date with an Avengers E-ticket attraction.
A towering crane at the center of Avengers Campus is expected to be instrumental in the stunt show, allowing the Spider-Man stuntronic robot to soar 60 feet in the air over the heads of visitors.
The Spider-Man stuntronic robot would be the first use of Imagineering’s next generation audio-animatronic technology in a Disney theme park.
Most Disney animatronic figures sit or stand in attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion and perform a series of repetitive functions hundreds of times a day.
Imagineering’s stuntronic robots can fly through the air, strike aerial poses and calculate trajectories to hit a prescribed target using on-board hardware, according to TechCrunch.
The stuntronic robots use accelerometers, gyroscopes and laser range finders to rotate in midair and perform aerial tricks after being slung from a wire, according to TechCrunch.
The Stuntronic Project is an outgrowth of two earlier efforts by Imagineering’s R&D team to create high-flying stunt doubles using autonomous, self-correcting aerial robots, according to TechCrunch. The first phase involved a sensor-filled metal bar known as a Brick that could spin through the air and stick a precise landing. The next phase advanced the concept with an articulated Stickman that could control its rotation and orientation in the air.
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Disney has released few details about the Avengers Campus stunt show.
Concept art shows Marvel characters performing stunts along the rooftops of the Avengers Headquarters and Stark Motors building that will house the Spider-Man attraction.
Spider-Man is expected to swing on a web from building to building above Avengers Campus. Imagineering hasn’t explained how this will be accomplished, but officials say the goal is to have the web-slinger soaring through the sky.
A Quinjet will be docked on the roof of the Avengers Headquarters, which will eventually serve as the entrance to the E-ticket ride. The rooftop will serve as a stage for character shows. Concept art shows Black Widow sprinting across a rooftop as Captain America leaps from one roof to another. Another piece of concept art shows Black Panther jumping from the Stark Motors rooftop.