A new patent describes animal monitoring technology that could alert Disney Cast Members and guests to animal activity.
Animal Monitoring Patent
Though not filed by Disney, the patent’s inventors include Jeremy Eaton of Winter Garden, Florida, located near Walt Disney World, as well as California’s Ching-Chien Chen and Isabelle Victoria Wang, suggesting a connection. It also has clear allusions to Disney offerings like Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and MagicBands.
The patent “Techniques for Automatically Monitoring Animal Behaviors and Generating Notifications” describes a system using computer vision, machine learning, AI, and more to monitor animal behaviors, take photos, and send notifications. Here’s the abstract:
A computer-implemented technique for monitoring animals includes processing at least one image using a trained machine learning model to determine at least one of one or more animals in the at least one image or one or more behaviors of animals in the at least one image, and transmitting a notification to at least one computing device based on the at least one of one or more animals or one or more behaviors of animals.
Notifications could be sent to devices like display screens, speakers in a vehicle such as a Kilimanjaro Safaris truck, smartphones, RFID devices such as MagicBands, audio tour devices, tablets, vehicle radios, and livestreams.
These notifications could alert guests to animal activity and viewing opportunities, but also provide notifications to animal care employees about situations that need to be addressed, such as an animal in distress, showing aggressive behaviors towards each other, or blocking the road on Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Currently, the patent notes, most animal monitoring is done through manual observation by caretakers who can’t view all animals at all times. No technical infrastructure exists to assist in the monitoring of animals so this could help caretakers respond to emergencies in a more timely manner.
The patent has been published but not yet granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Even if it is granted, it could be years until we ever see such technology utilized in the parks — if Disney decides to use it.
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