Dynamic Creatures showcases Hugo, a 43-actuator robotic character for entertainment venues

Date: 2026-10-13
Type: ARTICLE
Topics: Entertainment Robotics, Human Robot Interaction, Robot Control
Deck: The Boston startup’s Hugo showcase brings expressive character robotics together with its SnowJay control and interaction platform.
URL: https://korthosrobotics.com/research/dynamic-creatures-hugo-43-actuator-entertainment-robot

Image: Dynamic Creatures
Boston-based robotics startup Dynamic Creatures has showcased Hugo, an interactive character robot that the company says is equipped with 43 actuators and powered by its SnowJay robotics operating system. The company’s latest Hugo video was published on 12 October. Designed for entertainment and hospitality environments, including theme parks, Hugo combines expressive robotic movement with character-based interaction. Dynamic Creatures is developing mobile robots that can move through guest environments, interpret interactions and respond to individual visitors through movement, gestures and other behaviours.
Dynamic Creatures emerged from stealth on 8 September as Boston Dynamics’ official entertainment and hospitality partner. It was founded by CEO Marc Theermann, formerly chief strategy officer at Boston Dynamics and a senior executive at Google, and CTO Farbod Farshidian, previously a research leader at the Robotics and AI Institute. Hugo was identified as an internal prototype in September alongside Danielle, a poodle-like robotic character built on Boston Dynamics’ Spot quadruped. The latest showcase provides a closer look at Hugo rather than marking the character’s first public disclosure.
SnowJay combines real-time robot control, perception, learned movement policies and behaviour orchestration in a common software platform. Its functions include transitioning between physical skills, monitoring system health, managing safe stops and coordinating expressive movement. The system also supports motion-capture and animation-based training, allowing designers to create gestures in tools such as Maya and transfer them into robotic behaviours. Its human-robot interaction layer integrates third-party embodied-reasoning models with conversation, memory, gaze, facial expressions and whole-body movement. The company has not published detailed performance measurements or confirmed the extent of autonomous operation demonstrated by Hugo.
Dynamic Creatures is developing both original robotic characters and customised experiences built on existing platforms. Its announced commercial activity includes work with an unnamed major theme park and retailer on guest-facing experiences, although specific deployment dates and customer agreements have not been disclosed. Investors include Eniac Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Heliad, Sunshine Lake and BlueGrass Ventures, alongside angel investors including Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert. The company has not disclosed its total financing.
The team’s broader robotics research includes ZEST, a reinforcement-learning-based motion imitation framework demonstrated on Boston Dynamics Atlas, Spot and Unitree G1. The work transfers motion-capture, video and animation inputs into executable robot skills, including expressive movement and dynamic whole-body behaviours. Together with SnowJay, this research forms part of Dynamic Creatures’ approach to combining learned robotic movement with entertainment-focused character design.