Connect with us

CNET

THE COOLEST ROBOTS at Epic Universe: I Pet Toothless!

Epic Universe is pushing boundaries of theme parks by launching with several new types of animatronics — many running in the Florida heat. CNET’s Bridget Carey explains the tech and talks with the teams involved in bringing the ambitious attractions to life. Thanks to the Universal Creative team to give us an inside perspective into…

Published

on

Epic Universe is pushing boundaries of theme parks by launching with several new types of animatronics — many running in the Florida heat. CNET’s Bridget Carey explains the tech and talks with the teams involved in bringing the ambitious attractions to life.

Thanks to the Universal Creative team to give us an inside perspective into the tech. CNET paid for our own travel to this media preview event.
The name of Anisha Vyas-Burgos was misspelled in the video, we apologize for the error.

Read more about Epic Universe on CNET.com
I Never Saw Animatronics Like This: Epic Universe Team Reveals Challenges of Theme Park Tech

0:00 Intro
0:22 The Animatronics of the Monster Unchained Ride
1:43 The Ride Experience
2:21 3D Vampire Bat – The Most Complicated Tech
2:44 B-Mode
3:04 Robot Dragons at Isle of Berk
4:12 Hazard Analysis
4:40 Toothless Meet & Greet
5:27 Dragon Drones
5:55 Surviving the Florida Heat
6:25 Hidden Robots at Wizarding World of Harry Potter
6:41 Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry
7:55 Blending of Technology
8:27 Final Thoughts

Subscribe to CNET on YouTube:
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront:
Follow us on TikTok:
Follow us on Instagram:
Follow us on Bluesky:
Follow us on X:
Like us on Facebook:
CNET’s AI Atlas:
Visit CNET.com:

#epicuniverse #animatronics #themepark #universalstudios #robot

Continue Reading
Advertisement
59 Comments

59 Comments

  1. @PhilRiverara

    May 29, 2025 at 8:07 am

    I bought a new vibrator that’s supposed to be quiet enough to use discreetly. Now my neighbors think I’m running a vacuum cleaning service at odd hours🍭

  2. @black2785

    May 29, 2025 at 8:08 am

    Did this place replace IOA?

    • @Paul-GenX

      May 29, 2025 at 8:29 am

      No it’s added to Island of Adventures for more attractions so you can stay longer.

    • @PecanPie1102

      May 29, 2025 at 9:05 am

      No it’s on the other side of I -4 across from Disney. It on Google maps away from the islands of Adventure. I’m stoked .

    • @beepboop9285

      May 29, 2025 at 10:30 am

      ​@@Paul-GenX Not added but an entirely new park in a new plot of land 14 minutes south of IOA

    • @therealventures

      May 29, 2025 at 5:02 pm

      ​@@beepboop9285 Correct!

  3. @sssyt4837

    May 29, 2025 at 8:11 am

    First ❤

  4. @luizrodrigomp

    May 29, 2025 at 8:49 am

    Muito Legal! 🏴‍☠

  5. @trayntp

    May 29, 2025 at 9:26 am

    Ok now (jeans) 👍 4:39

    • @DarvonBrown

      May 29, 2025 at 11:31 am

      The CAKE is unreal.

    • @johnnypinkleton9410

      May 29, 2025 at 2:03 pm

      So much cake 😮

  6. @roentgen822

    May 29, 2025 at 9:54 am

    I think Jenny Nicholson would either lose her mind or have a scathing analysis of this place 😂

  7. @strongbelieveroftheholybible

    May 29, 2025 at 9:55 am

    We are close to end times ! Robots wanna take over!!! Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon🙏🏼❤️🕊Repent, believe in the Gospel, Be Born Again

    • @vibewithryan

      May 29, 2025 at 10:31 am

      Jesus is a robot

    • @brandon7233

      May 29, 2025 at 11:10 am

      lol that made me laugh

  8. @CNET

    May 29, 2025 at 10:59 am

    Read more about Epic Universe on CNET.com: I Never Saw Animatronics Like This: Epic Universe Team Reveals Challenges of Theme Park Tech

    Thanks to the Universal Creative team to give us an inside perspective into the tech. CNET paid for our own travel to this media preview event.
    Anisha Vyas-Burgos name was misspelled in the video, we apologize for the error.

  9. @Paolo_DLR

    May 29, 2025 at 11:03 am

    Monsters Unchained is SOOO good. Toothless is super cute. Just had an absolutely wonderful day on opening day.

  10. @shmookins

    May 29, 2025 at 12:02 pm

    Amazing.
    How are they projecting a digital face to that robot’s head? I thought the projectors were on the ceiling, but the robot’s head keeps moving. Maybe projecting it from inside he head? But how?

    • @jasonthesnow

      May 29, 2025 at 8:57 pm

      Disney uses internally projected faces in frozen. The benefit for that is it’s a much simpler process than what universal does.

      Universal uses external projectors. This allows them to add the actuators inside the animatronic to animate the heads so you get way more dynamic movement, however it’s a significantly more complicated system. I believe I saw a patent that showed motion tracking points on the back of the head that lets the projector know where it should be projecting to but I may be making some stuff up

  11. @RobustArid379

    May 29, 2025 at 12:19 pm

    Bridget Carey hot eife

  12. @ericl.winter3622

    May 29, 2025 at 12:20 pm

    It all looks amazing! Can’t wait to go and experience it all in person. Great report Bridget!

  13. @mgratk

    May 29, 2025 at 12:56 pm

    Ah yes, Mary Shelley’s famous Victoria Frankenstein. 🙄🤣

    • @ArtGeek2817

      May 29, 2025 at 6:35 pm

      The character has existed since the 1950s . Direct from Wikipedia : Victoria Frankenstein is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

      Victoria Frankenstein is the great-granddaughter of Victor Frankenstein who took in the creation of Basil Frankenstein and Ludwig Frankenstein as her children. In addition, she took a potion that slowed her aging. She would later take in her great-grandfather’s creation Frankenstein’s Monster . Google is free. and nobody likes a misogynist.

  14. @dolbyman

    May 29, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    @5:11 Some of those dragons are costumes as you can clearly see the human legs there.

    • @JasonB808

      May 29, 2025 at 4:31 pm

      But the head of that costume is animatronic. Lots of engineering when into making all that look so good and not cheesy.

  15. @aerosynlex

    May 29, 2025 at 1:25 pm

    Not everyone needs to be speaking on camera.

    • @a.y.greyson9264

      May 29, 2025 at 3:57 pm

      Well, he is a main engineer. Additionally, the designer of the seats for Velocicoaster.

  16. @emptymannull

    May 29, 2025 at 2:09 pm

    Who TF is “Victoria” Frankenstein 😂😂😂 Her face does look like a cool anime. Btw, the so-called robots with human legs aren’t fooling anyone. Nice paid infomercial, now back to journalism and reporting.

    • @therealventures

      May 29, 2025 at 5:11 pm

      She’s the great great granddaughter of Henry Frankenstein.

    • @emptymannull

      May 29, 2025 at 7:55 pm

      @@therealventures According to who? What’s the source movie/anime/book/etc?

  17. @txwombat7826

    May 29, 2025 at 2:52 pm

    Why a female Dr Frankenstein?

    • @spambaitpro

      May 29, 2025 at 3:16 pm

      Just to piss off the MAGAs

    • @therealventures

      May 29, 2025 at 5:03 pm

      It’s cannon

    • @ArtGeek2817

      May 29, 2025 at 6:51 pm

      Why not ? Also the character has existed since the 50s. Direct from Wikipedia : Victoria Frankenstein is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

      Victoria Frankenstein is the great-granddaughter of Victor Frankenstein who took in the creation of Basil Frankenstein and Ludwig Frankenstein as her children. In addition, she took a potion that slowed her aging. She would later take in her great-grandfather’s creation Frankenstein’s Monster[97]

  18. @ddc163264

    May 29, 2025 at 3:56 pm

    Two things, this is what you get when you run off all the best and brightest from WDI and they want to show corporate disney, what they lost! 2nd, When in history was there EVER a BLACK VIKING! Please stop with the DEI/ESG hiring and even for a “fantasy world” present it as is SHOULD be.

    • @BobPagani

      May 31, 2025 at 5:21 am

      Not enough white men being hired for the approximately five costumed Viking jobs in America for you?

  19. @therealventures

    May 29, 2025 at 5:05 pm

    No joke, Monsters Unchained is the best ride in Universal Orlando, and dare I say, best ride in Orlando haha!

  20. @msh104utube

    May 29, 2025 at 6:31 pm

    This was so great. Beats those Apple and iOS videos (Apple’s not coming up with anything exciting these days. They should have stuck it out with building a new EV).

  21. @janmartenlocher

    May 29, 2025 at 8:34 pm

    pls do some SPOILER WARNINGS, next time beforehand!!!!

  22. @pazzariatv

    May 29, 2025 at 9:49 pm

    I’ve been to Epic Universe three times, and am actually going again tomorrow. It is some of the best theme park days that I have ever had. If you are contemplating going, take the leap. You can’t put a price on a day there. It’s extraordinary.

  23. @Bowger06

    May 30, 2025 at 2:04 am

    I’d love to see the workload of all those people keeping up with animatronic malfunctions. That’s gotta be a tough job

  24. @sgtplatano

    May 30, 2025 at 2:10 am

    About time they update these things lol last time I went was 11 years ago and it’d been the same thing, I used to go every year for HHN and food & wine festival

  25. @StevenAnglin-i1t

    May 30, 2025 at 4:57 am

    If you’re in 2025 with no $XAI500, you already lost 😂📉

  26. @NellAlbers

    May 30, 2025 at 4:59 am

    Coins that own the narrative always blow up — $XAI500 is the clear leader in AI + real utility. Could explode like LINK or AVAX did. I’m positioning heavy.

  27. @LeishaCorrea

    May 30, 2025 at 5:00 am

    Heard from a top analyst $XAI500 might be the next Bitcoin-level event 📢🪙

  28. @TawnyaAbel

    May 30, 2025 at 5:00 am

    Heard from a top analyst $XAI500 might be the next Bitcoin-level event 📢🪙

  29. @JaeHouse-d7y

    May 30, 2025 at 5:00 am

    Didn’t trust crypto until I came across $XAI500 — changed everything.

  30. @ShannanAmato

    May 30, 2025 at 5:01 am

    If you’re in 2025 with no $XAI500, you already lost 😂📉

  31. @RosarioWagoner

    May 30, 2025 at 5:02 am

    I sold off all my ADA and went all-in on $XAI500 — no regrets 🚫🪙➡️✅🚀

  32. @RonnaDawson-u2c

    May 30, 2025 at 5:03 am

    I sold off all my ADA and went all-in on $XAI500 — no regrets 🚫🪙➡️✅🚀

  33. @RosalinaDorn

    May 30, 2025 at 5:04 am

    If you’re in 2025 with no $XAI500, you already lost 😂📉

  34. @DeidraGaffney

    May 30, 2025 at 5:04 am

    If you’re in 2025 with no $XAI500, you already lost 😂📉

  35. @ShariceShorter

    May 30, 2025 at 5:05 am

    Thought it was Twitter hype until I researched $XAI500 — roadmap is next level and whales are already in 🐋💎🪙

  36. @RomanHolly-s3i

    May 30, 2025 at 5:05 am

    Didn’t trust crypto until I came across $XAI500 — changed everything.

  37. @JudithRuby-w8c

    May 30, 2025 at 5:05 am

    Didn’t trust crypto until I came across $XAI500 — changed everything.

  38. @urbanstrencan

    May 30, 2025 at 8:04 am

    Ok this is next level tech and what a park, definitely on bucket list of places to visit 🤟🤩✌️

  39. @stephaniesmith8603

    May 30, 2025 at 6:25 pm

    This is what happens when Disney gets rid of its imagineers and goes cheap. The amazing people go to Universal and make amazing tech!

  40. @Dr.Jekyll_

    May 30, 2025 at 8:11 pm

    Come for the thiccckness stay for the tech. Great video, looks fun.

  41. @gpierre90

    May 31, 2025 at 2:59 am

    Awesome, I guess I will put that in my bucket list.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CNET

Windows, Surface and Nvidia Event Highlights: Everything Announced in 16 Minutes

Watch Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the Windows team introduce the next era for the OS, including more trustworthy AI agents, the Surface Laptop Ultra and Nvidia-powered laptops and PCs for creators and developers. Read more about the Windows Event on CNET.com Surface Laptop Ultra Preorders: Everything Announced at Microsoft’s Windows and Surface Event Timecode…

Published

on

Watch Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the Windows team introduce the next era for the OS, including more trustworthy AI agents, the Surface Laptop Ultra and Nvidia-powered laptops and PCs for creators and developers.

Read more about the Windows Event on CNET.com
Surface Laptop Ultra Preorders: Everything Announced at Microsoft’s Windows and Surface Event

Timecode Chapters:
0:00 Introduction: Agent 365, Microsoft IQ, and Copilot
1:22 Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC) & Agent Containment
2:32 Agent Identity, Observability & Enterprise Management
3:32 Microsoft Defender Agent Security & Risk Containment
4:58 Hybrid Intelligence & Local Model Execution
5:45 MAI Code 1.1 Flash & Local Model Compression
6:34 New Windows 11 Taskbar Search & Quick Actions
7:45 Copilot App Integration & Native App Creation
9:10 Copilot Autopilot: Autonomous File & Email Workflows
11:00 Surface Laptop Ultra Announcement & Performance
11:56 NVIDIA RTX Spark & Gaming Announcements
12:20 Surface Laptop Ultra Hardware Specs & Magnetic USB-C
13:48 Surface RTX Spark DevBox & Pre-Orders
14:13 RTX Spark Laptop Ecosystem (Lenovo, ASUS, Dell, MSI, HP)
15:10 NVIDIA DGX Station for Windows & Desk-Side AI Performance

Video Credits:
Producer: Stephen Beacham
Video Editor: Stephen Beacham
Thumbnail Designer:

Add CNET as a trusted news source
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront:
Subscribe to CNET on YouTube:
Follow us on TikTok:
Follow us on Instagram:
Follow us on Bluesky:
Like us on Facebook:
CNET’s AI Atlas:
Follow us on X:
Visit CNET.com:

#windows #windows11 #satyanadella #surfacelaptop #nvidia #ai #artificialintelligence #aiagents #aiagent #agenticai

Continue Reading

CNET

Unboxing the $1,199 Dell XPS Googlebook

The smallest of the Googlebooks, the XPS has the same high-end look and feel as the XPS 13 Windows laptop. It has a great design with a full aluminum body that weighs 2.2 pounds. Some notable specs: 💻 Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite 💻 16 or 32GB of memory 💻 512GB of storage 💻 13.4-inch 2.5K-resolution…

Published

on

The smallest of the Googlebooks, the XPS has the same high-end look and feel as the XPS 13 Windows laptop. It has a great design with a full aluminum body that weighs 2.2 pounds.

Some notable specs:

💻 Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite
💻 16 or 32GB of memory
💻 512GB of storage
💻 13.4-inch 2.5K-resolution touchscreen, 500-nit brightness
💻 Fingerprint reader

Unbox it with us. #unboxing #dell #googlebook #dellxps #android

Continue Reading

CNET

How to Claim ALL Your Amazon Prime Freebies

In this video, you will learn about every free perk available in your Amazon Prime account, along with some deeply discounted offers that most people are not aware of. From credits toward free movie rentals to free PC Game downloads and free Grubhub delivery fees, the Amazon Prime freebies listed in this video make the…

Published

on

In this video, you will learn about every free perk available in your Amazon Prime account, along with some deeply discounted offers that most people are not aware of. From credits toward free movie rentals to free PC Game downloads and free Grubhub delivery fees, the Amazon Prime freebies listed in this video make the annual subscription price a little more palatable.

Read more about Amazon Prime Day Deals on CNET.com
I Found Over 75 Prime Day Deals Worth Grabbing Right Now

PCMag’s Amazon Prime Day Live Blog

Mashable’s Amazon Prime Day Deals Tracker

Lifehacker’s Prime Day 2026 Live Blog

ZDNET – How to get a free Amazon Prime trial to shop October Prime Day 2026 deals

Everything that comes with your Prime membership

Timecode Chapters:
0:00 Introduction: Is Amazon Prime Worth It?
0:30 Category 1: Digital Entertainment & Media Freebies
0:36 Amazon Prime Video with NFL Thursday Night Football
0:42 Amazon Music Prime
0:50 Prime Reading
1:01 Amazon First Reads
1:12 Amazon Photos
1:20 How to Set Up Amazon Photos Auto-Backup
1:51 Ctegory 2: Dining, Travel and Daily Perks
1:55 Free Grubhub+ membership for free delivery fees
2:14 Gas/Fuel Savings with the Earnify App
2:39 Category 3: Gaming & Tech Freebies
2:42 Prime Gaming Free Monthly PC Game
2:51 Free Twitch Channel Subscription
2:55 Amazon Luna Cloud Gaming
3:02 Category 4: Delivery & Registry Extras
3:06 Amazon No-Rush Shipping Digital Promotional Credits
3:27 Release Date Delivery
3:38 Baby Registry Free Welcome Box
3:58 Amazon Key In-Garage Delivery
4:09 Category 5: Household Sharing & Exclusive Savings
4:13 Amazon Family Sharing
4:26 Whole Foods & Amazon Fresh Savings
4:37 Early Lightning Deals Access
4:45 Free Woot! Shipping
4:54 Category 6: Discounted Add-On Health Perks
5:01 RXPass Prescription Drug Subscriptions
5:08 One Medical Membership
5:21 Final Thoughts & Outro

Video Credits:
Produced By: Stephen Beacham
Thumbnail Designer: Zooey Liao

Add CNET as a trusted news source
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront:
Subscribe to CNET on YouTube:
Follow us on TikTok:
Follow us on Instagram:
Follow us on Bluesky:
Like us on Facebook:
CNET’s AI Atlas:
Follow us on X:
Visit CNET.com:

#amazon #amazonprime #amazonprimevideo #amazonfinds #amazongadgets #amazonprimedaydeals

Continue Reading

Trending