Lego Finds An Inventive Way to Combine AI and Motion Tracking

Lego toy systems have been around for generations and have been considered by many as a way to stimulate the imagination. Quite a few users have at some point imagined having a Lego figure in their own image they could use with their sets.

Realizing that fact, Lego has decided to try and make that dream come true. As Gizmodo reports, Lego will try to realize that dream for anybody who visits there theme park that will open in New York in 2020. To do this the company will employ sophisticated motion tracking and neural network facial recognition.

The theme park, named Legoland New York Resort will be located in Goshen, New York, which is about 60 miles northwest of New York City and it will open on July 4, 2020.

According to Mobile ID World, this possibility will be featured in a Lego Factory Adventure Ride “that takes park guests through a tour of a “factory” showing them how the iconic little plastic bricks are made.”

“Using Holovis’ Holotrack technology, the Lego Factory Adventure Ride will feature a segment where park guests are turned into one of Lego’s iconic miniature figures. Holotrack leverages the use of the same artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies that have made deepfake videos possible, taking an individual’s image and translating it onto a screen. The guest’s mini-figures will mimic their movements and appearance, copying their hair, glasses, clothing, and facial expressions. The time it takes to render a guest into a Lego figure is reported to be about half a second.”

But this is certainly not the new AI development in which Lego is involved. Back in 2013 Lego Engineering, used artificial intelligence to explore movement, using Lego building blocks. In 2014, researchers and programmers started using Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot with AI by connecting the brain of a worm to the sensors and motors of an EV3 robot using a computer program. AI development enthusiasts have been using Mindstorms EV3 for a while now trying particularly to develop robotic movement.

In  2004 and 2016, two research projects were published which researched how Lego could be used in teaching AI. The first employed Lego’s Mindstorms, while the latter, published by Western Washington University discussed 12-years of teaching experience on AI using Lego systems, including EV3.

But the company’s biggest advancement in the field of AI came this year when in August when it announced that it will “begin trials of a new system to aid those with visual disabilities in following LEGO instructions.”

The system is called Audio & Braille Building Instructions, and uses “AI to pair digital traditional-style visual instructions with verbal or tactile Braille directions, and was developed in collaboration with life-long LEGO fan Matthew Shifrin, who is blind.”

The system is in the early stages of development and currently supports “a handful of sets at present while the development team seeks feedback from users.”  The feedback will be used to implement the feedback which will add to more sets “in the first half of 2020, with an eventual goal of supporting all-new LEGO product launches. “ The official instructions created by the new AI-driven program will be available for free from legoaudioinstructions.com.