Guests who board the immersive role play focused Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Halcyon for their two night adventure will have the opportunity to interact with different characters in many locations across the ship. However, there is one character who will come to passengers on the Halcyon right in their cabin – D3-09, the ship’s logistic droid.
Halcyon passengers activate the D3-09 Logistics Droid from inside their cabin by pressing the “Droid Link” button on the room’s control panel. They’ll then be connected via video to D3-09 a droid with a unique perspective on the Halcyon.
As you find out, D3-09 has been a part of the Halcyon since its launch around 275 years ago. The droid is there to answer questions about the ship and also learn about what’s going on by hearing about your adventures.
D3-09 wants to get to know her passengers, so she may ask you questions, and, over time, may even ask for your help with a task elsewhere on the ship or a special mission.
A brief experience with D3-09
As part of our tour of the Halcyon, we had a short encounter with D3-09 from inside one of the ship’s cabins. Our experience was pretty limited, you can see the opportunity for further interaction and maybe a task or two.
What makes D3-09 work?
The technology behind the D3-09 droid is something new to Walt Disney World. Imagineer Scott Trowbridge explained that D3-09 is driven by an artificial intelligence that learns as it interacts with each guest.
I had the opportunity to talk with Dawson Dill, Senior R&D Imagineer and one of the Imagineers who worked on the project as a creative lead. Dawson explained that the D3-09 program is still in play-testing, but there’s a lot the droid can do right now.
Unlike Alexa, D3-09 only records sounds detected within your cabin when activated. If that raises privacy concerns with you, you can contact passenger services to have the droid disabled completely.
You hear a lot of talk these days about the metaverse. The metaverse will be populated by these AI driven characters who will help you learn something about the corner of the metaverse you’re exploring.
It’s definitely early days for these technology, but it’s very nifty to see Imagineering experimenting with it. I can see how characters like D3-09 will help augment the Disney guest experience in theme parks, cruise line ships, and resorts around the globe.
Watch the videos and let us know in the comments if you think Disney’s imagineers are on to something here?
Should you book a vacation at the Star Wars hotel? Read our review of our Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience.
Who voices D3-09?
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