The robot out front should have told you . . .

Very interesting technology the Japanese are exploring:

http://www.switched.com/2008/11/16/frightening-robot-ticketer-greet...k-visitor/

So is this the future of Disney and Universal?

My favorite line.

What could possibly go "worng," you ask? :)

But seriously, now I'm going to have this little heap of scrap profiling me and telling me what it thinks I should ride? Wow, all this time I've muddled by figuring out on my own what I wanted to do when I visited a park. How did I manage?

I expect Gonch will be in here in 10 minutes wetting his pants over this contraption. :)

It could be worse.

"Excuse me, sir, but you appear as though you're unhappy with your wife. Might I suggest picking up one of the many, over-age, unattached busty girls strolling the midway?"

"You seem to have a slight stoop to your back, ma'am. Don't worry; I have alerted the operators at all the more physically demanding rides in the park not to let you board."

"I detect some strain or frustration in your facial features. Perhaps you should return to your hotel room to rent yet another adult video on demand. It's only $15.95."

RatherGoodBear said:
I expect Gonch will be in here in 10 minutes wetting his pants over this contraption. :)

Nah. Not entirely, at least.

Technology == Good
Pageantry == Unnecessary

In other words, the reason this gets attention is because it's a 'robot' and that seems entirely irrelevant to me. The underlying technology, however...

...well, it must suck to be so afraid of change. :)

(and I'm supposedly the curmudgeonly one)

It's scary but interesting. What's next? Robots that frisk you for weapons once you walk in? Robots as ride ops? ;)

The whole "profiling" thing is what bothers me. I can see where it could be helpful to a family that is new to the park and doesn't know much about it, but I don't want some machine trying to figure out what I want to ride.

Then on the other hand it might be fun to see what they suggest. :)

-Tina

Lord Gonchar said:...well, it must suck to be so afraid of change. :)

That was *supposed* to be the RNC tagline... ;)

Lord Gonchar said:

...well, it must suck to be so afraid of change. :)

(and I'm supposedly the curmudgeonly one)

I think it's a fine line between technology that helps provide information and technology that tries to figure out who you are, how you think, and what you would like to do next. And it has nothing to do with fear of change or fear of technology. I get mad when people try to do those things, too. :)

Then you suck too! :)

Not sure a machine recognizing a child and suggesting or mentioning a particularly kid friendly attraction is any different than a human ticket-taker doing it...

...except we'd commend the human and rave about what great service the park offers.

Yes, but can a robot tell the difference between a child and a "little person?"

The last thing we need is 'Bots going bad.

Robots Gone Wild?

Lord Gonchar said:
Then you suck too! :)

Not sure a machine recognizing a child and suggesting or mentioning a particularly kid friendly attraction is any different than a human ticket-taker doing it...

...except we'd commend the human and rave about what great service the park offers.

Yes, that's one example. Consider another...if I walked up to the machine and it recognized me as a woman and decided to tell me where the gift shops are or where the make-your-own-doilies-from-old-flannel-shirts exhibit is, I would be less than happy.

You can't teach a machine to be perceptive. And that kind of processing requires perception.

Ensign Smith said:

Robots Gone Wild?

I don't need to be seeing any robots circuit boards! ;)

Robot Greeter sounds cool. Maybe they can enlist the ED-209 to handle line-jumpers.

Carrie M. said:

Ensign Smith said:

Robots Gone Wild?

I don't need to be seeing any robots circuit boards! ;)

Gives a whole new definition to the term 'flash drive' . . .

Lord Gonchar said:

...well, it must suck to be so afraid of change. :)

(and I'm supposedly the curmudgeonly one)

Nothing to do with a fear of change. Just a healthy dose of skepticism (as opposed to the blind faith view of "it's new, it's shiny, it must be great.") and a what's in it for me attitiude?

As a consumer it doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies to read that the whole purpose of the robots according to the article is to trick people into spending more than they normally would. Maybe I am curmudgeonly, but this whole concept seems based on the idea that people are no longer capable of reading or thinking for themselves. If I see a bunch of kids laughing and smiling and having a good time riding the helicopters, I don't see the need to run and check with the robot for its recommendation.

Like Carrie said, there are going to be a lot of pre-programmed assumptions entered in. If you appear to be between this age and that one, you'll like coasters, but if you appear older, we'll send you to the train ride. Is it going to "recognize" black people and tell them where all the fried chicken stands are? Even the article gave the example of mom being given restaurant suggestions.

Seems like everything this robot is capable of doing can already be done using a "Mobile Auto-directional Processor" or MAP for short.

Of course the entire purpose of the robots are to "trick" you into spending more than you normally would. That's the purpose of every person, artificial or not, that you meet at the parks, its called up-selling.
There is nothing new to what this robot does, the only new thing is that the person doing the up-selling is an artificial person.

RatherGoodBear said:
Nothing to do with a fear of change. Just a healthy dose of skepticism (as opposed to the blind faith view of "it's new, it's shiny, it must be great.") and a what's in it for me attitiude?

Seems like everything this robot is capable of doing can already be done using a "Mobile Auto-directional Processor" or MAP for short.

Yeah, I get that. And I even understand that tends to be your POV on most of these issues.

I dunno. I guess I don't see the problem - no one is necessarily making you use it. It's an additional tool for people who want it.

Like those new fangled automobiles. Seems like everything they do was done by my horse...and my feet before that. ;)

I still don't understand why this is so offensive or useless when a human (or a map) in the same spot isn't.

It's like most things. It's not the concept, but rather the implementation.

"...the device boasts integrated facial recognition for identifying and profiling park visitors -- a feature to be used for determining your demographic information and pointing you towards appropriate "amusement,..."

How many humans do you know would take a look at your face and try to determine what would interest you in the park? Seriously. The idea that this is doing the same thing as a human is kind of laughable.

If it had voice recognition that enabled it to answer your questions about park attractions that would make sense to me. Trying to anticipate my question and answer it before I ask it, that doesn't.

See, I totally disagree. That's exactly what humans do.

There's not a lot of info at the link on the technology and implementation - it's just a quick paragraph, but the face recognition is just one aspect of the device. It does more than just that.

Couple the recognition with the other features (and subsequent info it can tie to your face by using the device) and you have a machine that knows an awful lot about what you do while at the establishment using the device...and could probably build a useful and accurate profile.

Imagine the machine in an arcade. The arcade uses card access to play the games. You put more 'credits' on your card at this machine which now knows your face and how much you spend. Tie it into a system that knows what games you play (again, the card) and suddenly you have a full profile of how the guest uses the arcade.

Maybe the guest is a fan of DDR and spends most of their time and money on that machine. Since the guest's last visit a newer revision of the game has been installed. The machine simply passes on that info when it recognizes the users face.

The user now knows the machine is there and can find out where it is in the arcade and drops a little more cash putting credits on the card in anticipation of trying the new game.

Makes sense to me.

Now tranfer that same idea to a theme park. Maybe a park using wristbands to track guests (like Morey's POP or even something like HW's new bracelet system) and you can offer your guests the same kind of services.

The potential is there. In this form it might not be all there, but you just don't go to all from nothing. This is the first step in creating something much bigger and better.

Sorry for the double post, but I dug up a little more info. This should be even more scary to the technophobes among us:

NEC are attempting to give payment machines a new face with the unveiling of FeliCa, a robot that doubles as a payment point.

FeliCa was shown off at iEXPO 2008 in Tokyo and sports a touchscreen on its chest and facial recognition system for repeat customers. FeliCa works with the new wallet phones that are appearing in Japan. In order to pay for goods you swipe you mobile phone over a reader and the transaction is complete.
FeliCa can also transfer information to your phone. Therefore you can be given a proof of purchase electronically, or can have information such as a barcode sent to your phone and used to get into certain locations. NEC are hoping it will be a popular choice for operators of amusement parks and similar entertainment venues.

Wallet phones. Bar codes sent to phones and used for access. More cell-phone-as-an-everything-device useage. Welcome to the future, kids. :)

(now go back and read through the meat and potatoes of this thread - I'm a friggin prophet ;) )

I guess the point is just an extention of the post abve this one - the system is a lot more than something that looks at your face and tries to guess what you like.

Yeah, that kind of tracking technology is nothing new. The grocery stores have been doing it for quite some time with their savings cards. Those aren't just about giving you discounts. They know everything you purchase when your card is scanned. That enables them to provide you with coupons, know what to stock, what should be discounted, what can sustain a price increase, etc. Just replace the card with a face recognition system.

I admit that I took a much more narrow view of what this blurb was describing. I didn't envision something that scans your face and then tracks your behavior to determine what you might be interested in for the future. I thought it was suggesting it would scan your face and based on your features, would determine what might interest you.

But either way, humans can't do what you describe. The technology makes that possible.