Moving Light: can light steer a crowd? - Crowdflow Research Group

Moving Light is an unprecedented crowd-light interaction experiment in real-life performed during the Glow Lightfestival in Eindhoven (11-18 Nov. 2017).

When you visit @GlowEindhoven make sure not to miss out on ‘Moving Light’ @PhilipsLight @TheStudentHotel #4TU @TUeindhoven @AntalHaans @alecorbetta https://t.co/wGGG2yE6Sv pic.twitter.com/ZO0wlLFjCa

— CenterHT (@Center_HT) November 16, 2017

Introduction

Light with intensity, color and pattern variations is a most basic and instantaneous form of communication.
Emergency conditions, evacuation routes, availability of services are quickly understood through, e.g., flashing and/or colored illuminated signage.

Dynamic illumination, smartly adapting to crowding conditions and infrastructural needs, is thus a natural candidate for steering walking pedestrians.

Which light stimuli are more effective at steering
crowds?
Can light dimming over perform conventional
signage (e.g. arrows)?
Does crowd density disrupt light-based steering?

Driven by these questions we created “Moving Light”, a crowd dynamics experiment and interactive exhibit, as part of the Glow Lightfestival 2017 (11-18 Nov.).

#movingLightGlow

The Moving Light exhibit is a 23m x 6m corridor to be crossed by about 20.000 visitors per day. After an interactive experience of 1 minute, visitors leave the exhibit choosing on which side to bypass a central elongated obstacle.

In absence of external stimuli we expect pedestrians to
choose either side with 50:50 probability.

Can illuminated signage and uneven light sway such
decision?

We share the design and very preliminary results at the ILIAD 17 conference in Eindhoven with the poster below.

See high resolution version on ResearchGate or contact us.

Tweets about Moving Light (#movingLightGlow )

#movingLightGlow Kinect tracking is on! System on its way for the “Moving Light” exhibit / experiment at #glow pic.twitter.com/0aKGctrJlv

— Alessandro Corbetta (@alecorbetta) November 8, 2017

Check it out this Pioneering Research on #CrowdDynamics
Moving Light: can light steer a crowd?@alecorbetta keep us update!https://t.co/rc3niHDZfM pic.twitter.com/V9jm2TO9HY

— Evacuation Modelling (@EvacuationModel) November 17, 2017

Building #movingLightGlow ! #GLOW pic.twitter.com/exTrBZVfxk

— Alessandro Corbetta (@alecorbetta) November 8, 2017

TU/e and Philips make GLOW-goers ‘complicit’ https://t.co/LEJeCa2NY7

— Antal Haans (@AntalHaans) November 5, 2017

The #movingLightGlow experiment is already on poster at the ILI outreach event! pic.twitter.com/YzRx08IKUM

— Alessandro Corbetta (@alecorbetta) November 14, 2017

About Moving Light

Moving Light has been created by Alessandro Corbetta₁, Maurice Donners₂, Antal Haans₃, Fedosja van der Heijden₂, Matthijs Hoekstra₃, Martijn Hultermans₂, Ion Iuncu₂, Werner Kroneman₁, Timo LeJeune₂, Bert Maas₄, Sjoerd Mentink₂, Randi Nuij₃, Philip Ross₅, Sara Schippers₃, Dragan Sekulovski₂, Federico Toschi₁, Marius Trouwborst₂, Sander van de Wijdeven₂ and Walter Willaert₂