Disney Imagineering is developing aquatic robot performers and a hovering Star Wars food-truck droid as part of the company's $60 billion parks expansion, according to a Bloomberg feature published June 26.
The concepts include a six-foot manta ray inspired by Gramma Tala from Moana, dolphin-like lagoon robots, and a Star Wars cart tied to The Mandalorian & Grogu. At Disney's Glendale research-and-development space, Disney also showed projection-based character technology now appearing in Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland Park.
Kyle Laughlin, senior vice president of R&D Technology and Engineering at Walt Disney Imagineering, told Bloomberg the goal is "not to do innovation or technology for technology's sake," but to serve the story.
Bloomberg shared the Disney Imagineering feature on X.
View Bloomberg's X post from June 26, 2026.
Disney Aquatic Robots
The aquatic robotics work points toward large-scale lagoon performances that could move more like living characters than static show pieces. The manta ray concept is nearly six feet wide, with an expressive form that could fit the ocean mythology around Moana.
Disney has been building more water-centered entertainment into its park pipeline, including the Tropical Americas work at Disney's Animal Kingdom and Avatar expansion plans for Disneyland Resort. The robotics work is still research-and-development material, and Disney has not announced a specific park, opening date, or show for the aquatic figures.
Star Wars Food-Truck Droid
The Star Wars project is built around a small hovering-style food cart that can move through a themed environment. Bloomberg reported that Disney plans to show the cart at D23 in August, with a possible Disneyland debut before the end of 2026.
The cart would fit naturally near The Mandalorian & Grogu push already moving through Disney's Star Wars parks lineup. Disney added a new Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run mission tied to the film earlier this year, and the current Star Wars parks guide already includes BDX droids, Batuu food, merchandise, and cruise-line tie-ins.
Pirates Technology Already in the Ride
Some of that research is already in front of daily guests. Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean reopened June 26 with a new cursed-treasure figure that shifts from a living pirate face to a skeletal face through projection mapping.
The Pirates figure gives Disney a practical test case for expressive character faces that still sit on physical show figures. It is also the clearest public example so far of the R&D work Bloomberg covered.
Sources: Bloomberg, Bloomberg on X, CrowdLevels Pirates reopening coverage, and Disneyland Resort.
Image credit: Disneyland Resort.