The leisure, tourism and entertainment sector is undergoing a metamorphosis driven by user expectations and technological advances. Visitors and users of theme parks, water parks, family entertainment centres, amusement parks, animal parks, museums, etc., etc., are demanding to become the protagonists of the experience, with increasingly immersive dynamic narratives.
The advance of technologies at the service of leisure, tourism and entertainment is reflected in audiovisual systems that create multi-sensory stimuli: LED lights that simulate specific environments, 3D audio that envelops us in sounds, aroma diffusers that release scents according to needs. These systems do not set the scenes, they make them palpable.
On the other hand, intelligent sensor networks convert physical actions into environmental responses. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technologies, using radio waves, or LiDAR (Laser Imaging, Detection and Telemetry), using laser beams, identify and track objects, people or animals. Under certain predefined conditions, based on user actions, these systems trigger mechanical effects, such as the opening of a door, or digital effects, such as audio-visual projections. The magic lies in their invisibility: the user only perceives that the world reacts organically to his or her movements.
Adaptive Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, acts as the invisible director of the experience. Its algorithms analyse the pace of the group in real time, adjust the difficulty and provide contextualised clues. In the most advanced escape-rooms, the AI even modifies the narrative according to detected skills, avoiding frustrations or overly obvious solutions.
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) blur the boundaries between the physical and the digital. While the former superimposes layers of information in interactive museums, the latter transports users to complete universes in which every detail – from the texture of a wall to gravity – is calculated to maintain the illusion.
By Juan Carlos Soria, Senior MEP Engineer in Amusement Logic’s Architectural Dept.
