You Might Be Able to Deflect Lasers With Lightsabers in Disney Theme Parks' STAR WARS Lands
While Hollywood's pop up cantina sounds like it could be a cool way to physically experience being in a Star Wars setting, nothing will be able to hold a candle to the immersive Star Wars Lands of Disneyland and Walt Disney World. (Read some rumors about what we'll see and check out concept art here.) One way Disney could enhance that experience is by creating a live action lightsaber training game, and that's exactly what PatentYogi (via io9) claims could happen.
Apparently, the studio registered a patent for the technology that would make it seem as if visitors were deflecting laser blasts with handheld lightsabers. Check out this image:
And here's a more technical breakdown of what that means:
An entertainment environment has a user with a faux light saber that interacts with a drone flying through the air or operated with hidden rods to appear as if its flying through the air. The faux light saber has LEDs attached thereto to provide IR light to the drone. As an LED is turned on, an invisible light sensor built into the drone captures an image of the field of view with a bright spot at the position of the activated LED. A visible light source built into the drone then projects light through particulate matter toward the faux light saber. As a result, the [user] is provided with the illusion that the faux light saber has deflected a laser beam. Multiple LEDs can be activated in sequence at various times to give user the impression that the movement by the users of the faux light saber is deflecting multiple laser beams.
To be clear, this isn't an official announcement that this technology will 100% be available inside the theme parks, because Disney is constantly applying for patents and developing tech that never sees the light of day or isn't incorporated for one reason or another. But either way, it's cool that they have the technology, and we'll have to wait and see if they can figure out a way to scale that into the parks. Would it be an attraction all its own, or would they maybe hand everyone a lightsaber to play with while people were waiting in line for another ride? (OK, that last one admittedly sounds like a potential legal nightmare, but I'm sure there would be other ways they could utilize this if they wanted to.)
I downloaded the Star Wars app a few months ago just to play its lightsaber training game, and while it's simple, it's pretty fun. That seems like a good way to practice until you get the chance to check out this new technology in person...if Disney goes through with including it in the park.