EARTH7. THE SPACE ROVER DESTINED FOR EARTH

TitleEARTH7. THE SPACE ROVER DESTINED FOR EARTH
BrandS7 AIRLINES
Product/ServiceS7 AIRLINES
Category E03. Innovative Use of Technology
Entrant ISD GROUP Kiev, UKRAINE
Idea Creation WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
PR WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Production ISD GROUP Kiev, UKRAINE
Production 2 KA.KA.HA London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company ISD GERMANY Hamburg, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Eric Quennoy Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Executive Creative Director
Mark Bernath Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Executive Creative Director
Joe Burrin Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Creative Director
Evgeny Primachenko Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Creative Directors
Teresa Montenegro Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Art Director
Gustav von Platen Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Interactive Designer
Jake Barnes Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Copywriter
Annika Taneja Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Copywriter
Kelsie Van Deman Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Head of Interactive Production
Martin Weigel, Alexandre Janneau Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Planner
Clare Pickens Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Group Account Director
Jorge Fesser Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Account Director
Yulia Prokhorova Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Account Manager
Lizzie Murray Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Head of Studio
Cory Chonko Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Project Manager
Kacey Kelley Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Business Affairs
Viktor Shkurba ISD Group Creative Director
Mikhael Traverse ISD Group UX Director
Alexander Savin ISD Group Technical Director
Andrew Sergeev ISD Group Head of Development
Dmitriy Myshnev ISD Group Head of Engineering
Olha Muzychenko, Svitlana Mironchuk, Natalia Tachinskaya, Ilona Lutsenko, Alexan ISD Group Producers
Max Hurov, Egor Tatarenko, Zakhar Kozoliy, Aleksei Komarov, Vladimir Veshtak ISD Group Designers
Ihor Tulub, Anton M. Viktorovich ISD Group Tech Creative

The Campaign

Humanity has been always sending rovers to explore unknown planets. For 75% of Russians the real undiscovered planet is our own. To inspire people to explore places they have never visited before, S7 Airlines created EARTH7 – the space rover destined for Earth. Revealed at a public event in Moscow, EARTH7 created a portal from Moscow to the world. Combining cutting-edge technology with simple gesture control, users could maneuver the unique rover and explore the remote secret location thousands of miles away where the rover was situated. Seated in front of a huge screen transmitting a live stream from EARTH7’s location, participants were able to remote control the 75kg aluminum machine with just a flick of the wrist. The connection was made using custom built 5,000KM high-speed data channel and kinetic EMG armband. Each participant driving the rover had the opportunity to win return tickets to any S7 destination worldwide.

Creative Execution

Within 2 months we had to construct a nearly unbreakable rover, develop an augmented reality game, design and built futuristic sci-fi installation and establish high-speed lag free connection between the event location and distant desert 5000 km away. The event took place in one of the busiest public spaces in Moscow. Anyone could participate. In the immersive augmented reality game every pilot had a chance to win a ticket to any S7 destination, if he collected 3 samples of life on Earth, like jamon or K-pop. Over 50 samples were dynamically rendered over the rover’s livestream, providing for each user a unique gaming experience. This game was displayed on a 5 meter wide curved screen with live sound from the desert. To make the experience feel like a real game, rover reactions had to be less than a second. No satellite solutions could ensure this. So we created our own dedicated channel. 97% of the way the signal was transmitted through fiber optics and for the last 100 km we set up an airMAX wireless channel in the middle of the desert. Piloting the rover had to be intuitive. We used MYO armband that read hand muscles impulses with an electromyographic sensor and sent signals to the rover. This gesture powered interface turned advanced robotics system into a fun gaming experience. EARTH7 was built to operate autonomously for hours during the live game. It could survive unpredictable human actions and driving on a rough desert surface. The rocker-bogie suspension with aluminum wheels helped the 75 kg machine to overcome obstacles up to 40 cm and drive on inclines up to 45 degrees. A centimeter-accurate GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer were constantly sending the location data to the game server in order to identify the rover’s position whithin the game area.