“When Neil and I saw this door,” he said, rapping the hatch on an earlier Apollo capsule, “we didn’t like how it worked… so we had them change it.”
The personal account preserved in this article recalls a visit to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum with Apollo 12 command module pilot Dick Gordon. Its question is an evocative one: what would it feel like for more visitors to explore a collection with a knowledgeable companion?
Imagine choosing your guide
An astronaut, test pilot, aircraft designer or rocket scientist could offer a different way into the same collection. A visitor could choose a language, interests and an appropriate depth, then ask questions while an approved character helps guide, educate and entertain them.
This museum tour is an imagined application. Character rights, historical accuracy, approved knowledge, display methods, location awareness and the timing of interactions would all be part of the design. A digital companion should enrich the collection and the work of human educators.
The venue keeps the story
Alice® works with a venue-controlled Body of Knowledge. Curated Flexibility means the venue defines approved sources, editorial permissions and use boundaries while allowing an experience to respond within those limits. Changes to source material need review and validation before they are relied on throughout an experience.
A visitor’s language and interests come from supplied choices or permitted stored preferences. CheshireCat® can reconnect consenting registered visitors to those preferences. Recognition does not automatically determine a visitor’s language, age, emotional state or preferred learning style.
TECHNICAL DETAILA companion throughout the visit
Open the engineering detailClose this sectionLook for the red circuit symbol for engineering detail.
An avatar experience can be designed across selected screens, personal devices or other qualified presentation points. Continuity needs a defined session, an approved narrative state and a way to know which interactions are available at each point. Optional member persistence needs its own consent, retention and deletion choices.
QuickSilver® supplies the computer-based playback and control foundation. This creates options to integrate future rendering or interface advances, subject to compute capacity, software, interfaces and testing. It does not mean that any graphics card can be fitted to any existing computer or that a new spatial display needs no physical redesign.
Lory® can provide prepared personal media paths, including language and accessible formats where authored and configured. Supported hearing-device routes must be qualified end to end. Spatial overlays and smart-glasses presentation remain separate development and integration questions, including WonderLens™ work.
Samtoo: a concrete demonstration to discuss
Samtoo is Mad’s virtual receptionist demonstration. It is a useful place to discuss a conversational character, its approved information and the interaction your venue might need. The current Alice Avatars page distinguishes the demonstration from the wider set of visitor-companion capabilities under development.
A visit to Wonderland can focus on the implemented features relevant to your brief. Avatar continuity across a complete venue, every language, every access path and projected financial benefits should each be evaluated separately.
Judge the experience by its purpose
For visitors, the question is whether the guide helps them understand and enjoy the place. For curators, it is whether the interpretation remains accurate and under editorial control. For operators, it is whether staff can maintain the content and support the experience. Those questions lead to a useful demonstration and acceptance plan.
The promise of the idea is a companion with a distinct voice who helps people discover more. Mad’s work is to make the relevant parts of that promise concrete, testable and supportable.