Robot Videos: Disney’s Robotic Olaf, Robot T-Rex, More

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

SOSV Robotics Matchup: 1–5 December 2025, ONLINE

ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNA

Enjoy today’s videos!

Step behind the scenes with Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development and discover how Disney uses robotics, AI, and immersive technology to bring stories to life! From the brand new self-walking Olaf in World of Frozen and BDX Droids to cutting-edge attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, see how magic meets innovation.

[ Disney Experiences ]

We just released a new demonstration of Mentee’s V3 humanoid robots completing a real world logistics task together. Over an uninterrupted 18-minute run, the robots autonomously move 32 boxes from eight piles to storage racks of different heights. The video shows steady locomotion, dexterous manipulation, and reliable coordination throughout the entire task.

And there’s an uncut 18 minute version of this at the link.

[ MenteeBot ]

Thanks, Yovav!

This video contains graphic depictions of simulated injuries. Viewer discretion is advised.In this immersive overview, guided by the DARPA Triage Challenge program manager, retired Army Col. Jeremy C. Pamplin, M.D., you’ll experience how teams of innovators, engineers, and DARPA are redefining the future of combat casualty care. Be sure to look all around! Check out competition runs, behind-the-scenes of what it takes to put on a DARPA Challenge, and glimpses into the future of lifesaving care.

Those couple of minutes starting at 6:50 with the human medic and robotic teaming was particularly cool.

[ DARPA ]

You don’t need to build a humanoid robot if you can just make existing humanoids a lot better.

I especially love 0:45 because you know what? Humanoids should spend more time sitting down, for all kinds of reasons. And of course, thank you for falling and getting up again, albeit on some of the squishiest grass on the planet.

[ Flexion ]

“Human-in-the-Loop Gaussian Splatting” wins best paper title of the week.

[ Paper ] via [ IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters in IEEE Xplore ]

Scratch that, “Extremum Seeking Controlled Wiggling for Tactile Insertion” wins best paper title of the week.

[ University of Maryland PRG ]

The battery swapping on this thing is… Unfortunate.

[ LimX Dynamics ]

[ Carnegie Mellon University ]

This robot is in more need of googly eyes than any other robot I’ve ever seen.

[ Zarrouk Lab ]

DPR Construction has deployed Field AI’s autonomy software on a quadruped robot at the company’s job site in Santa Clara, CA, to greatly improve its daily surveying and data collection processes. By automating what has traditionally been a very labor intensive and time consuming process, Field AI is helping the DPR team operate more efficiently and effectively, while increasing project quality.

[ FieldAI ]

In our second episode of AI in Motion, our host, Waymo AI researcher Vincent Vanhoucke, talks with a robotics startup founder Sergey Levine, who left a career in academic research to build better robots for the home and workplace.

[ Waymo ]