NVIDIA, Disney, and Google partner to bring Star Wars-inspired droids to life

NVIDIA has announced at GTC a new partnership with Disney Research and Google DeepMind to develop Newton, a new open-source physics engine designed to simulate robotic movements in real-world settings.

The new platform is built on top of the NVIDIA Warp framework and is designed to optimize robot learning and be compatible with other frameworks, such as Google DeepMind's MuJoCo-Warp and NVIDIA Isaac Lab. Additionally, NVIDIA, Disney, and Google DeepMind plan to enable Newton to be compatible with Disney's physics engine, which will be used to advance its robotic character platform, increasing the power of its next-generation entertainment robots.

In its press release, NVIDIA writes that Disney will be one of the first companies to use Newton. Newton will power Star Wars-inspired BDX droids that will now begin to appear in Disney theme parks. One of these droids joined NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang on stage, with Huang saying that NVIDIA is committed to "bringing more characters to life in a way the world hasn't seen before."

The new physics engine is ultimately designed to assist developers in programming robots to interact with the natural world. According to the press releases, Newton is also designed to make robots more "expressive" and "learn how to handle complex tasks with greater precision."

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"The BDX droids are just the beginning. We're committed to bringing more characters to life in ways the world hasn't seen before, and this collaboration with Disney Research, NVIDIA, and Google DeepMind is a key part of that vision. This collaboration will allow us to create a new generation of robotic characters that are more expressive and engaging than ever before-and connect with our guests in ways that only Disney can," said Kyle Laughlin, SVP, Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development