The world’s first AI puppet
Pinocchio
A perfect combination of technological avant-garde and literary tradition
The Challenge
Creating an interactive AI for adults and children
Lux is a holding company specialising in the organisation of national and international events. On the occasion of the exhibition “Pinocchio, Back to Wood”, a live fairy tale by This is Wonderland, he launched an ambitious challenge to the teams of Humans.tech and PiCampus : to create, in just three months, the first AI puppet in the world.
What is this about? An extraordinary installation of the wooden puppet, animated this time by Artificial Intelligence, able to sustain coherent conversations with visitors.
The Solution
The magic element: AI
In Collodi’s timeless story, it is Geppetto who gives life to Pinocchio starting from a modest piece of wood, which mysteriously comes alive. Today it is artificial intelligence that takes the helm and replaces the artisan.
Together with Pi Campus, through advanced prompt engineering techniques, we have educated a basic linguistic model, ChatGpt, to capture the playful and curious essence of Pinocchio. Her natural and vivid voice was created using deep learning techniques for voice cloning, starting from the studio recording of Flora Canto, an Italian actress.
To make conversations more engaging, we’ve integrated the AI Whisper model for automatic speech recognition (ASR), ensuring accurate and engaging audio responses even in noisy contexts. We also adapted the prompt and entrusted the algorithm with the decision between truth and lie, saving precious seconds of reaction.
1. Instant multilingual translation
Pinocchio is accessible and multilingual, offering instant translations in different languages, for barrier-free communication with children from all over the world.
2. Troubleshooting
If the speech recognition doesn’t work or the AI misinterprets the question, the answer audio reads, “Oops, a butterfly distracted me, could you repeat the question?”. We have learned from Pinocchio that mistakes can always be learned from.
3. Acknowledgement of the interlocutor
AI can distinguish whether the interlocutor is a boy or a girl (based on an input), remember their name and record conversations for a short period of time. Whenever the interlocutor changes, the AI restarts the conversation.
4. Interface Coordination
We provided puppeteers with a front-end interface (a chat that keeps track of every interaction) that allowed them to manage Pinocchio’s gestures (the puppet with an extendable nose, the result of the combined genius of Imaginary Factory and Dari Automazioni).
The result? Response times have been reduced to 3 seconds, and we have created a Pinocchio as realistic as it is innovative, which amazes and fascinates audiences of all ages.
Impact generated
50%
Pinocchio's Average Response Time Reduction
50%
visitor interactions in the first week
+ Awareness
around the event and the innovative technology used
+ Retention
measurable in happiness in the eyes of children and adults
Team
Luca Denni
Product Lead
Marco Ciotoli
Director of Operation
Marco Iacobelli
Success Manager
Francesco Sangiovanni
Backend Web Developer
“It was great to work on this innovative product, which pushed us to think outside the box. Every detail, from the speed of responses to the handling of errors, from the most unpredictable questions to the consistency of the character, required meticulous precision.
Pinocchio arouses curiosity and a pinch of wonder for a technology yet to be explored, demonstrated by the amazement in the eyes of adults and children. A success that would not have been possible without the collaboration with Lux Holding, real partners, ready to discuss ideas and perspectives together for a common goal.”
Luca Denni
Product Lead – Humans
Creating human experiences using AI in creative and fun ways
Together with Lux Holding and PiCampus, we have moved the boundaries of the imaginary within an interactive scenario, which amazes and gives back at any age the ability to marvel.
We invite you to explore the exhibition in the picturesque setting of the Garden of the Waterfalls of the Eur Lake (Rome), and ask Pinocchio all the questions you want!
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