Walt Disney Research is an informal collaboration of the Walt Disney Company with various labs including Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....

 (CMU) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zurich), under a five year commitment.

These labs conduct R&D for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts division, Disney Media Networks, ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Disney Interactive Media Group

Disney Interactive Media Group

The Disney Interactive Media Group , formerly known as the Walt Disney Internet Group and Disney Interactive Studios, oversees various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries....

 and Pixar Animation Studios.

The labs will include computer animation, computational cinematography, autonomous interactive characters, robotics and user interfaces and others in its R&D efforts.

Carnegie Mellon University

CMU is working in particular on robotics

Robotics

Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...

, HCI

HCI

‎HCI may refer to:- Computing :* Home Computer Initiative, a United Kingdom government programme designed to increase the use of computers in the home...

, vision, graphics

Graphics

Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...

, and sports visualization under Professor Jessica Hodgins.