SEA LIFE team celebrate award-winning SEA LIFE Ranger augmented reality app

The SEA LIFE team have been hard at work creating new experiences for guests at SEA LIFE aquariums around the globe.

Their latest development, working with the team from Arcade, is the SEA LIFE Ranger App, an augmented reality ‘chatbot’ that can engage visitors in conversation and answer questions. SEA LIFE Ranger App – Your Expert Guide! delivers the world’s first visitor experience that combines augmented reality with chatbot functionality in a physical environment.

This takes the form of an augmented reality expert guide called Roxy (similar to the aquarist or curators who really work in the aquariums). Roxy’s character helps families to chat, play and learn about the creatures in SEA LIFE while increasing the entertainment and educational value of their visit.

The app aims to create a more meaningful connection between children, and the sea creatures they see at the aquarium through challenges such as measuring and counting, which once completed rewards participants with ‘ranger cards’ and encourages them to quiz their parents.

Engagement is high because rather than static text, the augmented reality element gives children something physical to see and interact with.

The SEA LIFE Ranger App has now won two awards at Creative Pool, Bronze for Best Innovation and People’s Choice Award! The app was up against CNN’s Magic Wall; Paramount’s Mission Impossible 360 GIF launch; WPL ‘The Conversation Starts here’ and more.

The SEA LIFE Ranger App was a prototype trial conducted at SEA LIFE London and received very positive feedback from parents “It really got him into the section, made him learn about the animals – so it made it a lot more exciting!”