Immersive dream adventures for hospitalized children

As part of St Jude Dream Adventures, kids at the research hospital can experience real-time, immersive travel adventures remotely.

Many of the children battling cancer at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital have to stay there for months and are unable to go out and see the world. But a recent initiative, organized by Expedia and creative agency 180LA, has enabled some of them to experience the exciting travel adventures of their dreams via an immersive 360 degree, real-time installation.

As part of St Jude Dream Adventures, Expedia employees have been dispatched to undertake various adventures requested by the kids at St Jude. The employees — many of whom have also been affected by serious illnesses — act as tour guides at places such as the Monkey Jungle in Florida and the Great Maya Reef in Mexico. The adventures were filmed using All 360 Media and projected onto the space in real-time so that the kids could not only watch the adventures but ask questions and make requests. As part of the campaign, Expedia customers are being encouraged to donate their loyalty points to the children’s hospital to fund further projects.

We have previously seen telepresence robots used to enable bedridden art lovers to explore museums remotely. How else could remote technology be used by those who can’t experience things for themselves?