Baymax Was Based on a Real Robot From a Carnegie Mellon Lab

By The Backlot

@backlotfriends

Armored Baymax and Hiro stand together against a golden sunset sky in Big Hero 6 (2014)

Baymax is not a fantasy robot. Don Hall, who directed Big Hero 6, visited Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute during development and met a researcher funded by DARPA who was building real inflatable vinyl arms for healthcare use. Hall said the moment he saw the arm, he knew. 'He had me at vinyl.' The goal was robots gentle enough to care for patients.

Hall found the Marvel comic by accident in 2011 while directing Winnie the Pooh. He was scrolling a Marvel database and liked the title. He pitched it to John Lasseter as one of five ideas.

San Fransokyo is based on an alternate history where Japanese immigrants rebuilt San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. The film never says this out loud.

Someone on Backlot just watched it. It's worth the night.

Quick Facts

Baymax Was Based on a Real Robot From a Carnegie Mellon Lab

DirectorDon Hall

CastScott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung

GenreAdventure, Family, Animation, Action, Comedy

Release2014-10-24

Runtime102 min

Rated7.7/10

Instagram caption

Baymax in Big Hero 6 was designed after the director visited a real soft robotics lab. The research was funded by DARPA and meant for healthcare. #BigHero6 #Backlot

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Baymax in Big Hero 6 was designed after the director visited a real soft robotics lab at Carnegie Mellon. The research was meant for healthcare.

Hall found the Marvel comic by accident in 2011 while directing Winnie the Pooh. He was scrolling a Marvel database and liked the title. He pitched it to John Lasseter as one of five ideas.

San Fransokyo is based on an alternate history where Japanese immigrants rebuilt San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. The film never says this out loud.

Someone on Backlot just watched it. It's worth the night.