PROJECT OVERVIEW
While working in the Innovation Lab at Scientific Games, our team created a new table game experience that utilized an AI-based vision system to detect chip presence and hand gestures & display a wheel spin bonus game on the table felt via a short-throw projector.
While working in the Innovation Lab at Scientific Games, our team created a new table game experience that utilized an AI-based vision system to detect chip presence and hand gestures & display a wheel spin bonus game on the table felt via a short-throw projector.
MY ROLE
Team Lead
Product Designer (UX/UI)
Game & Sound Designer
Team Lead
Product Designer (UX/UI)
Game & Sound Designer
TOOLS USED
Paper Prototyping
Figma (wireframes & prototypes)
Photoshop & Illustrator
Pro Tools (sound design and music creation)
Paper Prototyping
Figma (wireframes & prototypes)
Photoshop & Illustrator
Pro Tools (sound design and music creation)
Demo Setup at G2E 2019
Me doing an impromptu demo video with an early version of the code and UI.
Project Story
One day, while brainstorming with my innovation lab team on ideas for new game experiences, I noticed a short-throw projector we had lying around. We started thinking about how we might use it, and after several ideas, we decided to try using it to create a new table game experience. I quickly made a very rough animatic that I could project onto a table game felt, and the video below is my first pitch of the concept.
Over the next several days, the concept evolved into a very ambitious project combining projection, cameras, and AI!
I worked closely with product management to define the requirements and integrate the existing table management system. One of the goals of this project was to eliminate the optical sensors being used to detect optional side bets at a table. So we set out to see if we could use a camera and a neural network instead of optical light sensors, and we had great success. We then decided we wanted to allow players to use a hand gesture to spin the bonus wheel projected onto the felt. After trying many different approaches, we finally got it working pretty consistently. When people could spin the wheel by swiping a hand across the felt, their faces lit up with astonishment, and we knew we had a hit!
Quick animatic pitch of the concept that I created about an hour after we came up with the idea. I just created some mockups in Photoshop and made a quick timeline movie that I could use to demonstrate the various game states. I just took an existing table felt and turned it over so we could see what the projections might look like on felt.
Business Impact
The prototype was demonstrated at G2E (Like CES for the casino industry) and created a huge buzz with a lot of media coverage!
Primary KPI Achieved - The table games business unit decided to take the idea and productize it.
Our progress with AI-based vision led to creating a new team dedicated to designing vision-based solutions for the casino industry.
Early prototype setup
As shown at G2E 2019
Me demonstrating the final
prototype product at G2E 2019
prototype product at G2E 2019
