Slide 01

PhantomForge

Physics-native character performance infrastructure

Phantom

Forge

Simulation-first character intelligence for parks, film studios, and animatronics.

Built around NVIDIA Newton and next-generation robotics workflows.

NVIDIA Newton
Theme Parks
Film Production
Animatronics
Digital Twins
Entertainment Technology Center · Carnegie Mellon University
Slide 02

The Problem

Character systems are expensive, rigid, and disconnected.

Characters break immersion

Most animatronics rely on pre-scripted loops and cannot respond naturally to crowd behavior or environmental changes.

Iteration is painfully expensive

Studios and parks spend months prototyping mechanical systems before motion quality can be evaluated realistically.

Film and parks share no common pipeline

Creature FX, robotics, and live entertainment all operate in disconnected workflows with duplicated costs.

Slide 03

The Solution

Simulation-first character intelligence.

PhantomForge trains expressive robotic character behaviors in simulation before hardware deployment.

NVIDIA Newton provides the differentiable physics layer used to train and optimize character motion policies.

Instead of tuning motion manually, teams iterate in GPU-accelerated simulation environments before fabrication.

The same digital character model can support:

  • Theme park animatronics
  • Film creature previsualization
  • Digital twins for production pipelines
  • Interactive robotic characters

01 · Physics Simulation

Train character motion in thousands of virtual environments at GPU scale.

02 · Motion Policy Training

Optimize expressive movement using differentiable physics and reinforcement learning workflows.

03 · Edge Deployment

Deploy learned policies onto robotic hardware and embedded systems.

04 · Continuous Iteration

Refine behavior over time without rebuilding mechanical systems.

Slide 04

Why Us

A rare intersection of simulation, entertainment, and robotics.

Entertainment Technology Center

Direct access to one of the strongest interdisciplinary entertainment technology ecosystems in the world.

Simulation Research Background

Built on computational simulation experience and interest in physics-based systems and robotics workflows.

Perfect Timing

Differentiable physics, GPU robotics simulation, and embedded AI hardware are reaching practical maturity simultaneously.

Cross-Industry Opportunity

Few teams are thinking simultaneously about parks, animatronics, creature FX, and simulation infrastructure.

Slide 05

Technical Moat

The value compounds as simulation, tooling, and motion systems improve.

01

Physics-native motion policies

02

Sim-to-real deployment workflows

03

Character interaction datasets

04

Digital twin infrastructure

05

Film + theme park unified pipeline

Slide 06

Film Studio Opportunity

A new workflow between practical FX and digital production.

Creature Previsualization

Evaluate creature movement and performance characteristics before fabrication begins.

Digital Twin Pipelines

Maintain a simulation model throughout production for rehearsal, iteration, and future sequels.

Practical-to-CG Continuity

Reduce workflow fragmentation between physical animatronics and digital doubles.

Potential Future Partners
Legacy Effects
Weta Workshop
Jim Henson Creature Shop
Universal Creative
Disney Imagineering
Virtual Production Studios
Slide 07

Roadmap

From ETC prototype to industry pilot.

Semester 1

Newton Character Prototype

Build simulation-first robotic character prototype
Demonstrate expressive motion behaviors
Study sim-to-real transfer constraints
Semester 2

Pipeline & Tooling

Develop USD/Houdini export workflows
Prototype digital twin infrastructure
Explore industry research partnerships
Year 2

Pilot Deployment

Deploy first public-facing character experience
Collect live interaction telemetry
Pursue entertainment industry pilots
Slide 08

The Ask

What we need to build PhantomForge.

ETC Project Support

Support for a simulation-first robotic character prototype and showcase deployment.

NVIDIA Access

Newton SDK access, GPU compute resources, and research collaboration opportunities.

Industry Introductions

Connections to themed entertainment, robotics, and creature FX professionals.

Faculty Guidance

Advisors with expertise in robotics, simulation, and mechatronics systems.