NASA/Disney Technology Workshop: Technology Displays Concepts

摘要

The NASA/Disney Technology Opportunity Workshop opened with an overview of the workshop's purpose and a slide presentation by Disney personnel highlighting advanced technologies already employed at Epcot Center and on the Wait Disney World property. The objective of the workshop was to identify areas of mutual interest where NASA and Disney might work cooperatively to present significant new technologies to Epcot Center and Walt Disney World guests. These technologies fall into two principal categories: infrastructure systems, which are primarily behind the scenes, and show systems, which are an integral part of what is seen and experienced by guests. Among the prototype infrastructure systems operating at Walt Disney World are a water hyacinth wastewater treatment and energy production system, linear induction vehicle power systems, and a 40 kilowatt fuel cell. At Epcot Center, a variety of innovative show systems are employed including computer-aided-design simulations, random access video disk technology, lasers and holography, speaker independent voice recognition, etc. When viewed in this context, the dialog between NASA and Disney is a logical extension of Walt Disney's longstanding commitment to creating a proving ground for promising new technologies. The workshop participants toured Epcot Center and the Walt Disney World property to see these technologies first hand. The tour was structured to acquaint participants with the variety of technological systems already in place and to stimulate thinking in preparation for the discussion sessions to follow. These discussions divided participants into smaller working groups: Communications and Computers, Energy, Space, Biological Sciences, and Transportation/Materials. It was asserted that whatever the specific nature of the ideas submitted by workshop participants, the emphasis should be on process rather than product.