Watch this: Las Vegas Sphere: Everything You Need to Know
The folks behind the Sphere started construction on the venue in 2018, facing down supply chain issues caused by COVID; novel challenges in both video and acoustics; and a ballooning budget. Even before it opened its doors, the massive orb looked like a midconstruction Death Star rising over the Las Vegas skyline.
I visited the newly opened Sphere while in town covering CES 2024 and got a behind-the-scenes look at how it achieves a VR-like experience without headsets. I also checked out the brand-new camera system that was invented to make it all possible.
The Atrium
People with tickets to the Sphere Experience start their visit in the Atrium, a gathering area filled with art displays and tech demos that guests can explore while waiting for their show to start.
During my visit, there were volumetric scanners that let you get a 3D scan of yourself; AI-themed artwork (perhaps playing to the CES crowd); and a demo of the Sphere’s audio technology, which allows different languages or different parts of a song to be heard in different areas (similar to what I experienced during my visit to the Sphere’s cousin, the Big Dome in Burbank where content can be developed for the Vegas venue). However, the star of the Atrium exhibit was a team of Aura robots, which were stationed at various points throughout the Atrium to answer questions, introduce demos and interact with the crowd.
The familiar-looking humanoid Aura ‘bot is an updated version of Ameca, the robot we saw at CES 2022. I know because I asked one of the robots myself. It showed off its conversational abilities, identifying people in the crowd by what they were wearing and remembering their names after they shared them. Aura assured me it doesn’t store people’s names after the show.
Alex Luthwaite, VP of show…
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