Nevertheless, the reason why Disney wants to access this information is to view the visitor’s preferences when it comes to the park’s most visited attractions, trying to improve the customer’s experience.
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The Walt Disney Company, owner of the Disney theme parks, has secured a patent for foot-tracking technology, possibly a camera-wielding robot, from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
The patent documents also reveal the company’s future plans including a movement mechanism with robots, which it says could roam the amusement park and use information on its guests to interact with them on a personal level.
One potential application of foot recognition technology could use a sensor to capture a foot shape and a camera to capture the foot’s appearance. At the moment, Disney World tracks guests with a rather invasive and limited system, such as fingerprint or retinal scanning. “These methods are obtrusive and some guests may not feel comfortable providing this type of biometric information to a third party”, it added, noting that accessories such as hats and sunglasses could also limit the effectiveness of the technologies.
The company, however, has no immediate plans to use the technology.
Watch where you walk at Disney’s theme parks – because one day the entertainment giant may be tracking you.
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“The technology is there to photograph every face that enters the park and monitor it throughout the guest’s entire visit”, he said. The theme park now uses hotel keys, credit cards and its FastPass, which allows visitors to fast-track queues, to monitor its customers. It has so far put in around $1 billion to completely implement the system, but it has made guest experience seamless.
