Disney

​Advances in robotics are a constant, but every now and then the ingenuity of researchers crystallizes in maneuvers that are as awe-inspiring as they are terrifying. Here's some recent examples that will do the sleeping habits of those fearing a robotic apocalypse more harm than good.

​Over the next 12 months several major players will enter the streaming game, challenging Netflix's supremacy and massively complicating the world of film and television. Disney, Warners, Apple, and Facebook are just the tip of the iceberg in the oncoming streaming wars.

Disney’s animatronics are coming a long way from hippos that wiggle their ears. In the (relatively) near future, robotic versions of Iron Man or Buzz Lightyear could be performing autonomous acrobatics overhead in Disney theme parks, thanks to the newly-unveiled Stuntronics robot.

The world's most valuable Volkswagen Beetle that starred in 'Herbie goes to Monte Carlo' and 'Herbie goes to Bananas' went to auction again on Saturday. In 2015 it sold for $126,000 and on April 14, 2018, it sold for $128,700 to become the world's most valuable Volkswagen Beetle for a second time.

Star Wars Episode VIII is just around the corner, and you can bet that Disney will unleash a galaxy’s worth of new merchandise. Chief among them is Sphero’s line of app-controlled droids, which has now expanded beyond BB-8 to include BB-9E and R2-D2. New Atlas took the new droids for a test drive.

Lyft is making a habit of teaming up with big names, as it explores new ways of moving people around. The latest is Disney Parks, which has today announced an on-demand mobility service that will ferry visitors around resorts in Lyft's so-called Minnie Vans.

Attendees of Florida's Walt Disney World Resort this coming holiday season will be treated to a different kind of light show, with Intel's Shooting Star drones forming colorful, flying animations across the night sky.

Among the flood of toys that accompanied Star Wars Episode VII last year, Sphero’s app-controlled BB-8 was a clear standout. With this year's version, Sphero makes users feel (kind of) like a Jedi (sometimes) with the Force Band, a wearable that allows BB-8 to be steered with motion controls.

​There’s nary a Star Wars fan alive who hasn’t at some point swung a makeshift lightsaber around. A new patent awarded to Disney suggests that future visitors to Disneyland may get a more hands-on experience, using a physical lightsaber to deflect lasers fired at them by animatronic bad guys.

Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University researchers have built a smartwatch prototype that can detect items the user is holding in real-time, by tuning into the distinct electromagnetic noise signatures they emit.

Circle With Disney allows parents to be more informed about their kids’ online activities while also limiting family screen time on every device in the home. That includes smart phones, tablets, computers, and even gaming consoles.

Open Bionics, with support from Disney Accelerator, transforms prostheses that kids would rather hide into those that Iron Man or Frozen's Elsa would wear. The company says that for kids it transforms being different into being cool.