Shedd Aquarium
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This video requires Flash and JavaScript.
The Sonar Kiosk in action.
Kiosk animations are triggered by RFID tags on front of the Shedd Explorer submarine.
Interface comp for the Sonar Kiosk.
Interface comp for the RFID Kiosk.
The kiosk identifies an object picked up by the arm and plays an animation unique to that object.
Two animated interactive kiosks put kids in the driver’s seat of a full-size deep sea exploration submarine replica.
John G. Shedd Aquarium’s Shedd Explorer exhibit lets kids discover what being in a real deep-sea submarine might be like by giving them access to a variety of interactive controls inside a full-sized sub replica. Mightybytes created two animated interactive kiosks housed within this sub as part of an overhaul to the museum’s Oceanarium. One kiosk is triggered by an RFID sensor in a mechanical arm attached to the front of the sub. Objects picked up with the mechanical arm are identified by their tag IDs and trigger unique animations that correspond to the object picked up. The other kiosk mimics sonar activity and allows users to view video clips of beluga whales, octopus, brittle stars and jellyfish.
OUR APPROACH
Since the target user age group was young children, the interfaces for these kiosks were kept very simple. They were also meant to mimic existing submarine equipment so design research was minimal. The biggest challenge to approaching this project was figuring out how best to integrate the RFID functionality, which we did by assessing and testing various hardware-software combinations prior to (and during) authoring.
IMPLEMENTATION
Content on both kiosks was created using Adobe Flash, After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop and integrated the RFID hardware functionality using XML and third party software drivers. We built 3D models from the physical objects and created textured animations, which were then integrated with the kiosk content, from those models.
Several iterations of the RFID tag-embedded objects were created to optimize object recognition by the mechanical arm. In the end, some objects had as many as 30 tags embedded within them to ensure that the triggering functions would work properly.
THE RETURN
The Oceanarium continues to be a big draw for visitors to Shedd Aquarium and these kiosks, along with the Penguin Playscape animated environment we created, inspire, educate and entertain children who visit the museum.