Gallery: Disney Invents an Adorable Robot for Making Giant Sand Drawings
ETH Zürich01sand-disney-0002-Layer 7
Disney's newest robot is designed to bring characters to life on beaches.
ETH Zürich02sand-disney-2-0002-Layer 2
The prongs on the rake can be controlled individually, allowing the lines the BeachBot draws to vary from two inches to 15 inches.
ETH Zürich03sand-disney-0000-Layer 9
The robot's bulbous balloon wheels allow it to traverse the entire sandy canvas without leaving tire tracks.
ETH Zürich04sand-disney-2-0003-Layer 1
The laser-based positoning system gives the BeachBot to draw accurately down to the millimeter.
ETH Zürich05sand-disney-0003-Layer 6
Kids will recognize the design cue from the turtles in *Finding Nemo*.
ETH Zürich06sand-disney-2-0001-Layer 3
Like any good Disney project, a wide variety of themes were dreamed up—like this *Cars*-themed casing.
ETH Zürich07sand-disney-0008-Layer 1
The project was led by Paul Beardsley, a Principal Research Scientist at Disney Research Zurich. The team also included Professor Roland Siegwart and a team of students including Lorenz Wellhausen, Timo Müller, Jonathan Huber, Roman Müller, Markus Stäuble, Timon Homberger, Lorenz Wellhausen, Wolf Vollprecht, Manuel Rossegger, Philipp Bühler, and Dominik Rüttimann.
ETH Zürich08sand-disney-0005-Layer 4
Text messages can be programmed into the robot.
Spooky New Infostealer Malware Uses AI to ‘Autodox’ Victims
Named “Volta-Autodoxer,” the recently uncovered malware uses AI tools to collect troves of data about victims, from login credentials and credit card numbers to Discord sessions and UberEats receipts.
Lily Hay Newman
There’s a Completely New Type of Whisky. It’s French and Made in Concrete Eggs
The founders of Maison Lineti are, in a world first, making single malt whisky as if it were wine—and the spirit world is mighty impressed.
Jeremy White
Light Up Your Home Like Christmas With These Smart String Lights
Glow up your home indoors or out with these versatile, discounted, full color smart string lights. They’re WIRED-tested and 25 percent off right now.
Simon Hill
Power Outages Are No Match for This Fridge Battery
Backup by BioLite is designed to power your fridge when the grid goes down. It works, but protecting your ice cream doesn’t come cheap.
Christopher Null
Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet
Companies have spent the past several weeks trying to reassure investors that Muse and other AI agents pose more of an opportunity than a threat.
Paresh Dave
Get Bose QC Headphones at Their Lowest Price Ever
They’re a steal at over 40 percent off in multiple colors. Plus, other great Bose deals you should know about ahead of Black Friday.
Harry Rabinowitz
An AI Agent Injected Drugs Into a Live Mouse’s Brain
A biotech startup let an agent choose a gene therapy and successfully inject the treatment, offering a startling glimpse of the future of research labs.
Emily Mullin
The Keurig Alta Brewer Can Do It All, With No Plastic Pods
This multifaceted home coffee brewer and its new AltaRounds will make you rethink everything you know about Keurig machines.
Louryn Strampe
Are Memories Transferable? Meet the Scientists Replicating an Infamous Study to Find Out
In the 1960’s, an odd experiment showed planarian worms could transfer memories by consuming each other. It was a sensational finding—that is until the worms stopped learning.
Claire L. Evans
Sunrise Alarm Clocks to Help You Adjust to Shorter Days
I’ve never been a morning person. This bedside gadget is the only thing that’s ever changed that.
Nena Farrell
White Dwarfs Aren’t Just White. Scientists Discover Dying Stars Turning Pink and Green
Astronomers find that a white dwarf’s density and the kind of material it absorbed from its surroundings can produce a rainbow of shades in the star’s atmosphere.
Petr Kubala
Wayfair Coupons for November 2026
Get 10% off with Wayfair promo code, up to 80% off furniture, and more top coupons.
Molly Higgins