What Happens When The Latest Event Technology Meets AI?

Have you ever watched a far-fetched Sci-Fi movie like The Terminator, or a Star Wars release, and felt relieved that the intelligent robots in these films were still a concept of the distant future? Not anymore. Ongoing advances in programming software are bringing devices with deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities right to our proverbial doorsteps – and these may be knocking on our doors (and changing how we look at event technology) much sooner than we think!

A quick overview of the latest developments in AI reveals that this tech is everywhere

According to a RoboCup 2016 press release, intelligent household robots – designed to help with domestic chores like vacuuming, for example – are just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to be expected from the robotic household assistants of the future. One such helpful robot, Jibo (pictured below), can sense, respond and learn from human interaction and is being marketed as a glorified personal assistant, babysitter and friendly companion for the elderly.

NAO Evolution, another humanoid robot, can recognise shapes, people and voices; To date, NAO Evolution robots have been used as stars in a choreographed dance show, competitors in a robotics world cup event and as multilingual concierges at a theme park hotel.

AI and intelligent robotics are mixing up customer services and a whole range of other industries

When it comes to customer services, according to one Marketing Week blog, web-based, intelligent virtual assistants are already used by Swedish banks to speed up the customer service process, while a tool called DigitalGenius has been developed to have human-like conversations with customers, via SMS, to walk them through the sales funnel until they are ready to speak directly with a dealer or sales agent.

An Information Week blog post details the continuous development and release of tools and systems (by companies like Nvidia and Google) to advance the capabilities of AI and machine networks. Here the focus is on enhancing security and surveillance, creating autonomous vehicles, improving healthcare and ultimately pushing the envelope of deep learning development capabilities.

How might AI effect event technology of the future?

Existing AI systems could greatly enhance the latest event technology on the market. Among other things, this latest event technology assists event organisers with data gathering and analytics to improve their corporate event planning. As it stands, this information has to be digitally captured into a software system for reporting. The event tech of the future may well incorporate the use of AI to gather data in real-time. This could be achieved through event guest’s direct engagement with intelligent robots, or other AI interfaces used as interactive touch points placed throughout an event space.

• Humanoid robots like NAO Evolution could be used to welcome guests at the event and answer any of their event-related questions.
• Virtual, or web-based, assistants could be incorporated into existing online event registration systems, such as The RSVP Agency’s guest list management product, to build rapport with guests and talk them through the online event registration process.
• The latest event technology could be combined with deep learning capabilities to improve guest experiences: using audio and visual sensors, robots could be designed to gather data about crowd responses to certain music, presentations, speakers, entertainment or catering options to adjust future event’s offerings accordingly.  
• Existing event access and security systems can be augmented with humanoid robots and AI systems to  track guests’ whereabouts and observe their behaviour patterns around a product or brand experience.

A Smashing Robotics blog describes 13 advanced humanoid robots that are already for sale. Many of these are priced well above what any corporate event planning budget can afford (with some of them reaching figures as high as US $9600 per unit), so it will be a while yet before these humanoid robots enter mainstream services. But once they are more affordable, it will be interesting to see how their use at corporate events takes off.

Browse our website for more information on the latest event technology and insights into how far guest list management software has actually come over the years.