New “living characters” Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker greet guests at Disneyland.

Walt Disney Imagineering is using new technology to take the Muppets to whole new level. They’ve created free-roaming, interactive animatronic versions of Muppet characters Beaker and Bunsen Honeydew (link via Pidgeonblog). What makes these new versions of Beaker and Bunsen unique is that not only are they not tied to a specific location or attraction, but they’re fully interactive and capable of “seeing” and “talking” to tourists at Disney theme parks without a visible puppeteer in sight, much like Disney’s Turtle Talk With Crush digital puppetry attraction.

The roving Muppet Labs attraction is part of Disney’s “Living Character Initiative”, an effort to produce realistically interactive characters that park guests can interact with. No video of Bunsen and Beaker in action has surfaced yet, but most of the Disney and Muppet fan sites have been buzzing about this attraction ever since word of it first leaked out and it looks like it will be a big hit with Disney theme park visitors. Imagineering is testing the characters in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot at Disney’s California Adventure through this weekend. No word yet on when they will become a permanent attraction at the park.

Cross-posted from PuppetBuilding.com.