“Hello, welcome to Dodgers Stadium, how may I assist you?” (Photo by Scott Clarke / ESPN Images)
Imagine showing up to Dodger Stadium and having Clayton Kershaw direct you to your seat. It wouldn’t really be him, of course, as he’d be busy on the field warming up, but a hologram version of him built specifically to assist you.
VNTANA, a company that makes augmented reality experiences with holograms to help brands connect with customers, announced the first-ever artificially-intelligent hologram concierge on Tuesday, which it plans to build out featuring popular pro athletes and station at kiosks located in professional sports arenas.
The difference between this experience and that of, say, Microsoft’s Hololens, is that this hologram can be accessed without a clunky headset or a touchscreen device. That makes it more functional in high-trafficked stadiums where people need quick assistance.
The experience enables fans to interact with a hologram that appears inside the glass box of a kiosk, which will talk back to users in natural language and pick up on cues from their facial expressions to detect emotion and adjust the tone of its responses. The brains powering the artificial intelligence were built by Satisfi Labs, a maker of virtual assistants.
VNTANA may soon create holograms that look like top MLB players.
While VNTANA didn’t announce which teams or arenas would initially house this experience, its hologram kiosks are already set up at three stadiums, including Dodgers Stadium, the Anaheim Angels’ stadium and the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park. The kiosks can be easily converted to add the concierge feature. VNTANA CEO Ashley Crowder said the company plans to add to that roster in the coming months.
The kiosks in LA and San Diego were built previously in conjunction with brands to offer marketing experiences. A Lexus-sponsored experience at Dodger Stadium, for example, enables fans to create a hologram version of themselves, build a virtual Lexus car and catch virtual baseballs.
Outside of baseball, VNTANA built a hologram experience for Nickelodeon at Super Bowl LI, one featuring a lifelike version of Roger Federer for Mercedes-Benz USA at the US Open and other interactive hologram experiences for Nike and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Crowder says the stadium concierge will benefit not only the consumer in need of assistance during games but also brands on the back end, which will receive data about the genders and approximate ages of users and the kinds of answers they’re seeking.
In the case of sports arenas, this could benefit the facilities or the teams themselves, which could make tweaks to fan experiences based on customer feedback.
“They’re asking about the stadium: where’s the bathroom, where are the concessions? Maybe everyone is asking for a particular food stand. Or what brand are they asking for, Coke, Pepsi?” said Crowder. “We can track that data and allow the stadium or teams to learn from that.”
