case study
AlUla Adventures™ - A Sensory Reality Experience
Designed, developed, and manufactured by Spark XR, AlUla Adventures is a sensory virtual travel experience that ‘teleports’ users to a UNESCO World Heritage Site in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. It uniquely combines hardware and software to deliver compelling location-based entertainment.
The user’s mission is to explore the AlUla area, discover and collect hidden historical artifacts while outrunning a sandstorm, and learn about this incredible place!
Although users remain stationary inside a self-contained ‘pod’, the custom sensory technology creates a 360-degree sensation of movement—at times driving, floating, and flying—so they feel the wind on their face while experiencing the sights and sounds of AlUla!
User Feedback
Client brief:
An innovative virtual-tourism experience allowing users the opportunity to virtually tour areas of AlUla, Saudi Arabia
Ability to follow-up post-experience with travel offers - discounts, etc.
The deliverable:
The award-winning “AlUla Adventures Experience”, a hardware-and-software combination combined within custom-skinned ‘pods’ designed and manufactured by Spark XR
Users enter a Pod and are “teleported” to ancient AlUla. The experience is a 10 to 15-minute immersive adventure where users discover and collect ancient artifacts, learning about the region and building their own digital journal, like a photo album.
In this videogame-like interactive experience, the Pod surrounds users with 360-degree sensory effects, including wind and haptic sensations, combined with virtual reality making it so realistic that users report feeling like they’re flying, driving, and floating through the real AlUla.
When the experience ends, users receive an email with a link to the digital AlUla journal they created, which can also be shared on social media.
Work undertaken by Spark XR:
Researched the AlUla region and conceived of a proposal for a start-to-finish experience, from user sign-up, virtual experience and then post-experience email souvenir/follow-up offer
Visited AlUla, taking reference photography, measurements and drone footage of the three primary locations included in the experience (Alfarid, Elephant Rock, Old Town), which were recreated in 3D
Created the hardware and the software. Manufacturing, user testing, electrical testing and certification followed, then shipment from Utah, USA, to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Trained attendants on setup and operation
Designed and created a dedicated AlUla Adventures website, maintained on behalf of the client
Ran live operation support
Exhibited the experience in USA on behalf of the client
The project became the first commercial use of Spark XR’s prototype XR-One™ platform - a ‘pod’ that utilizes VR and adds real-time, AI-controlled 360-degree sensory effects to create a unique**, state-of-the-art** experience. The XR-One was designed as a platform to incorporate a small footprint, offer portability, network connectivity and low cost to deploy with no reconfiguration required to change applications.
AlUla Adventures ™ and Copyright ©Spark XR, Inc. and Manga Productions. All Rights Reserved