Gallery: Big Hero 6 Proves It: Pixar's Gurus Have Brought the Magic Back to Disney Animation
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Sure, Baymax's fingertips spray antiseptic and his hands function as defibrillators, but his healing touch isn't always so clinical. He can also pull lollipops out of thin air—perfect for staving off hypoglycemia or just delighting kids.
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On a research trip to Japan, Hall and the movie's designers saw a traditional copper bell, the bottom of which was punctuated with two holes connected by a slit. That inspired Baymax's facial features—it's easy for the audience to project various emotions onto such a simple canvas.
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On another research trip, this one to the Carnegie Mellon University robotics lab, Hall saw a vinyl-covered robotic arm used for nursing functions, like wiping a patient’s face. In an instant, he realized that Baymax could be a caretaker robot. “Soft robotics was the big lightning bolt,” Hall says.
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To help define Baymax’s bottom-heavy shape and endearing penguinlike waddle, animators looked at videos of a full-diapered toddler.
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This early sketch shows Baymax sweeping up, his armature visible through his vinyl skin. But the final version of Baymax, voiced by Scott Adsit (Pete Hornberger from 30 Rock), is less translucent—and doesn't have time for chores.
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Another early artist's rendering of Baymax showed him in a globe-shaped shell with jetpack—but the final version of Baymax's flying suit was more articulated, and aerodynamic.
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In this early sketch, Hiro rode around in Baymax's backpack.
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Shiyoon Kim and director Don Hall created a basic shape for Baymax that bore no relation to the comic-book incarnation. (The drawing above is by the movie’s other director, Chris Williams.)
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An original cover from Marvel’s comic book Big Hero 6.
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For a huggable, inflatable robot, Baymax is pretty flexible.
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Baymax has a tough side too, so the writers gave him a carbon-fiber skeleton that enables him to lift 1,000 pounds—as long as his lithium-ion batteries, a nod to contemporary technology, are charged.
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The final version of Baymax's flying suit has wings—and a cinching stomach panel that manages to contain his belly.
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In one iteration, Baymax traveled by deflating into a wheeled suitcase and zipping around. But as the story developed, he needed huggability more than speed, so animators decided to let him walk on his chubby legs.
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In early designs, Baymax’s vinyl skin was translucent enough to allow his robot skeleton to show through, but the visible armature proved to be just a little too creepy for a caretaker. Opacity: confirmed.
