Dynamic Creatures wants to bring roaming robot characters to more venues

Dynamic Creatures launched on September 8 with plans to build mobile robot characters that roam theme parks, hotels and entertainment venues, interacting with guests.

The startup, featured in The Rundown’s September 10 issue, is starting with existing robots such as Boston Dynamics’ Spot. Its effort goes into natural movement and guest interaction.

The robots and the team

Former Boston Dynamics strategy chief Marc Theermann founded the company with Farbod Farshidian, a former research leader at the Robotics and AI Institute whose work included Atlas. Theermann is CEO, and Farshidian is CTO.

The company calls its AI and robotics software layer SnowJay. It says the system combines perception, learned control, programmed behavior, character design and costuming to shape how its robots move and respond.

Its prototypes include Danielle, a poodle built on Spot, and Hugo, a Tyrolean mountain troll, Fortune reported. Theermann told the publication the company would likely never build a photorealistic robot.

Boston Dynamics confirmed the startup as its official entertainment and hospitality partner. Dynamic Creatures also says it is working with an unnamed large theme park and retailer. The announcements give no customer names or dates for public installations.

Why it matters

Disney already provides a model for this kind of attraction. In April 2025, it reported that its Star Wars BDX droids had greeted guests at Disneyland Resort and aboard Disney Wish.

Dynamic Creatures wants to make similar encounters available to other character owners and venues. Those buyers could commission an attraction from an outside supplier without assembling a robotics and performance team themselves. They would still need to see how the characters perform over a full day of guest encounters.

Leasing is part of that pitch. In its launch announcement, Dynamic Creatures says characters built on existing platforms can deploy in months. It also offers fully original robots. A venue could rent a character to test guest interest before funding a custom robot project. The announcement gives no prices, leaving the cost of a trial unclear.

Established hardware gives Dynamic Creatures a foundation for the performance work. Disney’s research on a robotic character describes a system combining animation directed by artists, learned physical control and an interface for live operators. Character owners should judge whether a robot’s gait, gestures and reactions fit the character throughout an encounter. Each movement needs to express that character and stay within the machine’s physical abilities.

Human support will also shape the business case. Disney says a puppeteer behind the scenes adds performance nuances to its BDX droids. Venues considering Dynamic Creatures should ask how many robots one operator can supervise, how staff handle crowds and how they intervene if a character stalls. Those operating requirements remain unclear, and they will affect the cost of running an attraction.