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Disney Imagineers have apparently built a little robot Groot

Project Kiwi is about creating a robotic actor that can wander, according to TechCrunch.

Sean Keane Former Senior Writer

Sean knows far too much about Marvel, DC and Star Wars, and poured this knowledge into recaps and explainers on CNET. He also worked on breaking news, with a passion for tech, video game and culture.

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Sean Keane

April 23, 2021 9:22 a.m. PT

Robot is Groot? Guardians of the Galaxy's tree-like being has been recreated in robotic form as part of Disney Imagineering's Project Kiwi, TechCrunch reported Friday. The little Marvel Cinematic Universe guy is around two and a half feet tall and is part of a project that's been running for the last three years.

A couple of weeks ago I got to see Disney Imagineering's latest feat -- a walking, talking bipedal robotics platform called Project Kiwi. It's a milestone in this kind of robotics. Read about how the team created it here: https://t.co/x97mJL6TdU pic.twitter.com/3pH0N9JIFI
— Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) April 23, 2021

It's all about bringing Disney's small characters to life "at their actual scale in authentic ways," project lead Scott LaValley told TechCrunch.

The report emphasizes that Groot is just the character they chose for the prototype, so the robot could end up coming to a Disney park in a different form (Baby Yoda?). Disney also doesn't have any immediate plans to bring any Project Kiwi robots to parks.

Disney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.