00:00 [KNOCKING]
00:03 Come on in.
00:06 Hi.
00:07 How are you?
00:08 Hey, Lanny.
00:08 Great to see you.
00:09 Great to see you.
00:10 We heard about your upcoming induction
00:12 into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
00:13 And we know you're very busy, but we just
00:16 had to stop by and say congrats.
00:18 You know, that's great.
00:19 Come on in.
00:19 Come on in.
00:20 Thank you.
00:22 Wow.
00:24 Yeah.
00:25 Wow.
00:25 So this is where you quite literally make the magic.
00:28 This is exactly where the ideas are hatched
00:31 and where we prove them out.
00:33 So wait, how did you even get started working
00:36 in research and development?
00:37 You know, I've had a long career,
00:41 20 years with the Bell System, Bell Labs, Bell Communications
00:45 Research, Telcordia doing research
00:47 for the telecommunications network.
00:49 25 years ago, I came here to Walt Disney Imagineering R&D,
00:54 and I've been here for all that time inventing and having fun.
00:57 Wow.
00:58 So you've been here for quite a while, obviously.
01:00 Yes.
01:01 So what does being an Imagineer mean to you?
01:04 You know, being an Imagineer is using technology in service
01:08 of making people happy.
01:10 Come on, that's the world's greatest job.
01:13 You've invented quite a lot around here.
01:15 Don't you have over like 100 patents?
01:18 Well, it's 106, but I won't quibble.
01:21 Are those some over there?
01:22 Yeah, come on over.
01:24 Take a look.
01:26 So I've invented electromagnetic eyes for our animatronics
01:32 to make the eye movement compact.
01:35 The eye itself is doing all of the work.
01:38 This goes a few years back, interactive zoetrope.
01:41 We brought it up to date, making it
01:43 so that talking into a microphone
01:45 brings the characters on the zoetrope to life.
01:48 This one's been well-documented.
01:50 You can see it on the internet as the interactive zoetrope.
01:54 And yeah, and just some fun from the past.
01:58 Wow.
01:58 Well, you've got to have a favorite invention or two,
02:00 right?
02:01 Well, yeah.
02:02 Let's bring it up to date.
02:03 It's always the things that I've done most recently
02:05 that I'm most excited about.
02:07 And I've designed and created the most realistic,
02:10 expandable, extendable lightsaber.
02:13 And many of you may have seen it in our parks.
02:17 Well, you've left quite the mark.
02:18 And now you're being inducted into the National Inventors
02:20 Hall of Fame.
02:21 How does that feel?
02:23 You know, it's an amazing honor.
02:25 And for an inventor, it's incredible.
02:31 And I'm humbled and excited.
02:35 Well, Walt is the only other Disney employee
02:37 to receive this honor.
02:38 And you're now the second.
02:39 That has to be pretty special, huh?
02:41 You know, when I realized that Walt Disney himself
02:44 was the only other person at our company
02:46 that's received this honor, it caused really
02:51 a lump in my throat.
02:53 It's amazing.
02:53 Walt and his accomplishments are incredible.
02:56 And to follow even slightly in his footsteps,
02:59 it's a wonderful honor.
03:01 Yeah.
03:02 Hey, we heard there was something
03:03 about a floor tile or something.
03:06 What's that all about?
03:07 We call it the hollow tile floor.
03:09 And it's a very special piece of technology.
03:11 And you know what?
03:12 I'd like to show it to you.
03:14 Let's take a walk over.
03:15 And we'll see the hollow tile floor.
03:18 Let's do it.
03:19 Yeah, let's go.
03:20 Come on.
03:22 So this is the hollow tile.
03:23 It is.
03:24 And as a matter of fact, I'm going
03:27 to do a little demonstration of it.
03:30 So I can walk on this omnidirectional floor
03:35 in any direction I want.
03:37 It will automatically do whatever it needs
03:40 to have me stay on the floor.
03:43 And what's amazing about this is multiple people can be on it
03:46 and all walking independently.
03:49 They can walk in virtual reality and so many other things.
03:53 So where are you hoping this tech ends up?
03:56 You know, imagine a number of people being in a room,
03:59 being able to be somewhere else collaboratively
04:03 and moving around, doing sightseeing.
04:06 Imagine theatrical stages that might
04:08 have these embedded in them so that dancers
04:12 can do amazing moves.
04:14 Not me, but really good dancers.
04:17 So there are just so many applications
04:20 for this type of technology.
04:22 And we don't know yet where it will be used.
04:26 Well, it's official.
04:27 I think you probably have one of the coolest jobs.
04:30 Yeah, I think you're right.
04:31 It gives me an amazing opportunity
04:33 to use these inventions that I've made
04:35 in service of people having fun.
04:38 Well, Lanny, it's been great catching up with you.
04:40 Thanks for showing us around.
04:42 Thank you, and come back soon.
04:45 (snoring)
04:47 (purring)
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