Hanson Robotics

Disney Wraps Third Accelerator Class With Jaunt, OTOY Deals, including Hanson Robotics

Hanson Robotics – a creator of human-like robots with a full range of facial expressions. Based in Hong Kong, Hanson Robotics is building a range of robots for the business and consumer markets. The videos of its robot “Sophia” have been viewed more than one billion times.

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Nine startups at various stages of development presented at Disney’s third annual demo day.
Disney evoked the innovation and vision of founder Walt Disney at its annual demo day on Thursday, during which it showcased deals with the nine companies that participated in its accelerator program.

In the third year of the program, a three-month immersive accelerator that gives startup founders access to divisions and executives across Disney, the studio worked with much later stage startups than it has in the past. Among them, virtual reality firm Jaunt, kids electronics company LittleBits and digital rendering experts OTOY. All nine companies announced during demo day deals they had struck with various Disney divisions, and several founders after the event explained that this would be just the beginning of their relationships with the company behind Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm.

Disney CEO Bob Iger kicked off the demo day presentations with a short speech explaining why Disney continues to invest in its startup accelerator. “We’re looking to bring new ideas and new people and innovation to our company,” he said, before joining the crowded theater of investors to listen to each company’s pitch.

Here’s a look at what each startup announced:

Hanson Robotics
This company’s human-like robots will be on the market soon in the form of a $200 Albert Einstein robot that the company calls “your personal genius” and now it is conducting research and development with DCPI and Walt Disney Imaging to explore how it can bring Disney characters to life as consumer products.

This article was first posted in full here »

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