To give trash-compacting hero Wall-E a more realistic feel, Pixar Animation Studios turned to real NASA robots for inspiration.
Early on, director Andrew Stanton and his team wanted insight into how robots move, think and learn. To get the info, they went straight to the source: They visited the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and talked with the folks who designed the Phoenix Mars Lander and red planet rovers Spirit and Opportunity -- machines that, like the beeping star of Wall-E, survived long past their life expectancies.
"We wanted to get an idea of what real robots are capable of and what they could be like in the future," Stanton said. "The help from [the Jet Propulsion Laboratory] was invaluable and inspired us in so many ways."
This real-world NASA connection is documented in the extensive collection of special features on the Wall-E DVD and Blu-ray discs, released Tuesday. The featurettes reveal how the movie's computer-generated robots were designed, how hard science informed the cute, animated characters and how the unique sounds of the robots were created.
According to Stanton (pictured right, on Wall-E's treads), while his task was never to create a real-world robot like those dusting off Mars, his visits to JPL helped create a more realistic look at what robots will be able to do in the near future.
Stanton and crew toured JPL, from the massive clean room where engineers assemble rovers to the various testing facilities where designers learn what their creations can do on Mars and other distant worlds. The chance to ask questions and examine real space technology up close not only helped to develop the look of Wall-E and his robotic friends; the research guided what creators allowed the bots to do mechanically as on-screen characters.
Paulo Younse, an engineer in JPL's robotic hardware systems group, worked with the Pixar team, showing the capabilities of various robots in a mock-up of the Martian surface.
"(The Pixar group) wanted to see anything we had to show them and had a lot of questions," Younse said. "So we demonstrated everything we had and showed them how everything worked as much as we could."
Younse said Stanton was especially interested in where JPL robotics research is headed, considering Wall-E's futuristic setting. So, Younse and his co-workers shared details on Crewbot, a rover designed for construction on the moon and Mars, and on LEMUR IIA -- a limbed robot built for in-space assembly and inspection that looks remarkably familiar (pictured above, left).
According to Richard Volpe, manager of JPL's mobility and robotic systems section, the best part for his scientists was seeing what Stanton and his team took away from their time at JPL.
"I don't think we watched [Wall-E] looking for how realistic it would be," Volpe said. "But it was interesting to find out how what they learned here might have inspired them."
And, just as JPL pitched in to help create Wall-E, now the movie's DVD release will help NASA name its newest robot: NASA announced a naming contest for its Mars Science Laboratory rover scheduled for launch in 2009. This will be JPL's biggest robot to date -- about the size of a compact car, compared to the kitchen table-size Phoenix.
The contest is open to students 5 to 18 years old who attend a U.S. school and are enrolled in the current academic year. To enter the contest, students will submit essays explaining why their suggested name should be picked. Essays must be received by Jan. 25, 2009. In March 2009, the public will have an opportunity to rank nine finalists online. NASA will announce the winning rover name in April 2009.
Disney will provide prizes to students submitting winning essays, including a trip to JPL. The grand-prize winner will sign the spacecraft that takes the as-yet unnamed robot to Mars.
Images courtesy Disney, Pixar, JPL
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