【AI+Robotics】GTC Conference: Huang Ren-Hsun invites Disney's "Baymax" to the stage—Mickey and Donald Duck may soon become reality.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang invited the classic character “Olaf” from Disney’s Frozen to appear as a physical robot on stage at GTC 2026 on March 16. Huang explained, “Olaf” is simulated on Nvidia GPUs and learns to walk using a new open-source physics engine called “Newton” and the open platform Omniverse, turning Disney characters into robots that can exist in the real world. He emphasized that AI development is moving toward a new phase of “agent AI” and “embodied AI.”

The physical robot “Olaf” is expected to make its official debut on March 29, coinciding with the opening of the Frozen world at Disneyland Paris, and will also arrive at Hong Kong Disneyland this summer.

Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Enter the Real World, Nvidia Teams Up with Disney

The Newton engine is an open-source system developed jointly by Disney Research, Nvidia, and Google DeepMind, enabling high-performance robot simulations to run quickly on GPUs.

Kyle Laughlin, Senior Vice President of Disney Research and Development, told the media, “This absolutely is the future of how we’re building robot characters.” Reports suggest that the collaboration between Disney and Nvidia may go far beyond “Olaf.” The two companies hope to use the Newton framework to help various robot characters interact with the real world, such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck strolling in a restaurant.

However, “Olaf” currently does not have artificial intelligence. Media reports note that although it is equipped with 25 actuators and three computers—including an Nvidia Jetson Orin NX and a Raspberry Pi—it plays pre-recorded lines voiced by actor Josh Gad.