J4-K3

For other uses, see Jake.

J4-K3, also known as Jake, was an orange and white maintenance droid that moved around on a large rolling base. He was very dedicated to his work and communicated using binary. His standard sensor color was orange, but it would change color based on his emotions.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Jake was a real-life "autonomous character" developed by Walt Disney Imagineering's Research and Development arm. Unlike many previous "living characters" seen in Disney Parks, Jake was fully autonomous, not requiring any puppeteers or handlers. Instead, he leveraged cameras and sensors to map out space, guests, and other obstacles, while self-dictating his movements.^[1]

The autonomous robot was first spotted during play-tests in 2016 at Disneyland's Star Wars Launch Bay, where he interacted with park guests and set decorations around the attraction.^[3] He was later seen at Disney's D23 Expo in 2017,^[4] then later that year again at Star Wars Launch Bay and out in Tomorrowland.^[5] Turing his stint in Tomorrowland, themed signs were placed around the land to indicate locations where Jake would pause to "document" things, such as the display of C-3PO and R2-D2 in the Star Traders window, or locations where he would not be permitted, such as shop interiors and food carts.^[6]

During this period, the droid was being play-tested by Imagineering for the development of future iterations of droids in Disney Parks. Although some speculated Jake would eventually be found in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge,^[5] Disney later clarified in the 2019 documentary film One Day At Disney and the eponymous book that Jake was only intended to be a "minimally viable prototype" due to sub-optimal durability and reliability.^[7] As such, he nor any other autonomous droids have appeared regularly in Galaxy's Edge.^[8]

Key figures in the development of J4-K3 include Ashley Girdich and Michael Honeck of WDI R&D, and the development of the character resulted in the filing of several patents.^[9] Girdich and Jake were both featured in the 2019 documentary film One Day at Disney. Their clip was slightly trimmed and re-released as a short on the eponymous series. As of the filming of the documentary, Jake was still being worked on. By November, 2025, however, Girdich has since been seen acting as a key figure in the ongoing development of the BDX droids, leaving Jake's fate uncertain.^[10]