Disney and Nvidia Combine on Robotics and AI to Bring Olaf Robot to Life - CNET

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. This free-roaming snowman robot is coming to overseas Disney theme parks. While much of the United States suffers through an extended winter, in Glendale, California, it’s another story. Sunny and warm on an afternoon at Walt Disney Imagineering R&D in mid-March, it was the perfect setting for meeting summer-loving snowman Olaf of Disney’s juggernaut Frozen franchise. Olaf — in robotic form and primed for theme park appearances — debuted last week in Los Angeles and is now being showcased at Nvidia’s GTC 2026 AI conference in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will be joined onstage by Disney’s Olaf robot during his keynote Monday kicking off the company’s annual tech conference. The robotic snowman runs simulations on Nvidia GPUs and is powered by Nvidia chips. Olaf was brought to life using the Newton Physics Engine, an open-source system developed by Disney Research, Nvidia and