NEWS
RIT creates new photobooth experience with “Okaimono Panda” at the Rakuten Umaimono Festival
In late October, Rakuten held the Rakuten Umaimono Festival (“Umaimono Taikai”), featuring 72 specialty merchants, at the JR Nagoya Takashimaya department store. It is the eighth time the festival took place, and it has become one of the most anticipated food shows in Japan. For shoppers’ fun engagement, RIT developed a new photobooth experience in collaboration with “Okaimono Panda”, Rakuten’s official character. In this “Okaimono Panda Wakuwaku Photobooth”, visitors mimic one of the poses of the Okaimono Panda on the screen and are judged on accuracy based on a 5-star system. (Please see the youtube video below.)
RIT’s computer vision technology was used to capture the users’ poses and estimate similarity to the Okaimono Panda pose.
Visitors were able to take a commemorative photo with Okaimono Panda at the end, with a decorated photo frame based on the star rating. By scanning a QR code, the picture could be easily saved and shared with friends and family.
During the festival, over 1,700 shoppers visited the booth, most of whom raved about the experience. We got to see many visitors having fun aiming for 5-stars.
