The future of attractions are always evolving but what do AI, machine learning and neural networks have to do with it? Experience designers Holovis are pioneering developments that not only extend and enhance the guest experience but that will also become imperative to safety, park performance and operations.

The desire for personalisation and unique guest experiences that drive ride and park repeatability have been at the top of the requirements list over the last few years," says Peter Cliff, creative director at Holovis.

"The evolution of real-time media and enhanced interactivity techniques have allowed guests to customise their experience, but we’re taking things one step further and achieving true personalisation where guests are in control and the same experience is never repeated twice."

To deliver this, Holovis has developed a proprietary software ecosystem that connects all elements of a themed entertainment space to streamline operations, transform security and safety protocols and provide deeply personalised, intelligent entertainment experiences.

"Our interactive attractions are evolving to become much more intelligent by using advanced tracking technologies including our biometric and AI platforms. We take the techniques currently being developed by our data scientists and software teams for our enterprise and simulation divisions and apply them to create next-generation themed entertainment solutions that are pushing the boundaries," explains Cliff.

New technologies
Holovis has developed a suite of software modules that leverage advanced computer vision and tracking technologies. These are fronted through the provision of guest experiences with personalised content that enhances their journey but also produce powerful data analytic visualisations and insights into park dynamics and operations on the backend.

The biometric tracking works by picking up attributes of the guest from their physical appearance and linking them to a user profile. The user is completely anonymised during this process, no data about an individual is saved and nothing can be reverse-engineered that could compromise personal information.

"We've prioritised the development of several different methods of tracking guests around a space that remove the complete reliance of a second screen, such as a mobile phone, digital signage networks or virtual reality," says Cliff.

"Users are identified through a powerful attribute recognition engine, which drives guest experience through personalised outputs. These include gesture recognition, where the power is in the hands of guests to alter their surroundings without needing any other devices or technologies, just natural human interaction.

“They could, for example, cast a spell, make lights come on inside a building or make water come out of a fountain. When combined with the facial recognition, a user can’t perform that action until they have unlocked that power, so someone else can copy the gesture but it may not work for them if they haven’t also unlocked the feature. This adds to the illusion of magic.

"The great thing about attribute recognition is it removes barriers to entry. Costly props enhanced with RFID are no longer the only way to take part.

"It's the object recognition module that allows guests to bring props into the narrative. Machine learning is used to identify common objects or those that can be purchased in gift shops and when detected incorporate them into the user’s specific story. These can be standard items that don’t need to be enhanced with any technological systems."

These tools can be utilised across a whole park or at a family entertainment centre, just in one themed zone, as part of the in-ride experience to personalise media scenes and in passive areas such as queue lines to elevate boredom.

Behind the scenes, the guest experience is a user-friendly face for what is actually a system that will become critical to park security and operations.

Spacial awareness
This real-time tracking intelligence of the way in which people are moving around the space combines with simulation data to deliver extensive insights into operations and security. This gives an accurate picture of proceedings and operators can choose to act on these for reasons such as improving the flow of guests, alleviating congestion and emergency situations.

When combined with the machine learning, analysis of the way guests typically move around a space, this identifies how crowds would move, should disasters occur and how emergency response teams should function. When a new ride is added, a simulation can be run to see in real-time how this will affect the way in which people are moving around the space.

"Just as Machine Learning and AI are changing other industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, finance and retail, they are also set to have just as great an impact on themed entertainment," says Cliff. "This goes much further than simply contributing to guest entertainment – a whole ecosystem can be designed around these tracking technologies that keep guests safe by delivering extensive insights into park operations and security. We're very excited to see these transformations occur."