Disneyland’s new Star Wars droids are controlled by Steam Decks
Reddit: u/LeePixelAn eagle-eyed Disneyland visitor spotted three staff members holding Valve’s Steam Deck to control new animatronic Star Wars droids currently being rolled out across the park.
Disneyland is jam-packed and full of technology. From the hyper-realistic swinging Spider-Man to the latest rides, it’s a cavalcade of tech. Now, it appears that the House of Mouse is using Valve’s Steam Deck to power its latest attraction.
Spotted by user Leepixel on Reddit, three Disneyland staff members are seen holding disguised Steam Decks to control a new attraction. These animatronic droids will roll through the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area of the popular theme park.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen the Steam Deck being used outside of gaming. As it runs Linux, multiple members of the Steam Deck subreddit occasionally show them running engineering or other high-level software on it.
We’ve also seen the Steam Deck deployed in Ukraine, as it controlled a remote turret and kept the operators at a safe distance.
Disneyland appears to be using the Steam Deck to control animatronics
Disney’s use of the Steam Deck also appears to be using a few accessories as well. To mask the black shell from guests, they’ve adopted white skins and added what looks to be a battery pack to the back. As the Steam Deck’s battery isn’t designed for all-day use, it makes sense that the staff would need the added boost.
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However, some users speculate it could be aftermarket fans to combat the heat.
It’s assumed that the Steam Deck is sending over a low-latency Bluetooth connection to the droids, as they parade around the ever-expanding Star Wars section of Disneyland.
The droids being controlled by the Steam Decks at Disneyland are BD units, seen heavily featured as Cal Kestis’ partner BD1 in Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor.
Disneyland introduced its Star Wars section in 2019 and followed it up with the heavily criticized Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. The hotel was shut down this year after just a year.