A Collaboration between Samsung and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute

Leveraging innovative technology to foster environmental preservation for future generations

OVERVIEW

Building upon the Zoo’s initiative to use new technologies that help build their body of knowledge and improve public engagement and wildlife preservation, Samsung was honored to be formally recognized as a Technology Advisor to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (National Zoo) in 2015. Through Samsung’s donation of cameras and display monitors, as  well as software design expertise, the Zoo is now able to offer a more immersive way for the public to learn and engage with the bird experience, including the remarkable migration journey that the herons make each year.

2015 PROJECT

Black-Crowned Night-Heron 360 Web-Camera 

gear VR

You may also wish to watch this recorded content on Samsung Gear VR. Simply download the Samsung Milk VR app from the Gear VR store and go to the Gear Indie channel in Samsung Milk VR while using your Gear VR.

To celebrate the launch of this partnership, Samsung hosted an event at the National Zoo’s Bird House in June 2015 to showcase the initiative and next step of the heron project: the Black-Crowned Night Heron 360° Camera. Every spring and summer for nearly a century, the National Zoo welcomes about 100 wild Black-Crowned Night-Herons to its Bird House where they find sanctuary and roost. This phenomenon is well known  to many Washingtonians, but as it is a wild occurrence, it is not well documented or monitored. Until recently, the National Zoo didn’t know where they went each fall or when exactly they would come back.

Please click here to learn more about the Night Heron Bird Migration Project and black-crowned night herons. A video compilation of this year’s flock is also available on their website.

You may also wish to watch this recorded content on Samsung Gear VR. Simply download the Samsung Milk VR app from the Gear VR store and go to the Gear Indie channel in Samsung Milk VR while using your Gear VR.

Long-Term Collaboration to Help Visitors “Experience Migration”

Beyond the 360° heron camera, Samsung is also working with the Zoo to provide expertise, technology solutions and support on select projects such as the renovation plan to transform the Zoo’s 1928 Bird House and surrounding plateau into an Experience Migration Exhibit – an interactive, educational facility scheduled to open in 2019. As a member of the design team, Samsung is exploring cutting-edge technologies that will make the Experience Migration exhibit the first-of-its-kind where visitors can immerse themselves into the incredible journeys of birds via a walk-through migration tour that will feature digital education tools.

Through such cooperation, Samsung and the National Zoo will aim to:

  • Develop new technologies that benefit scientific inquiry;
  • Develop new digital content to inspire the public;
  • Enhance STEM education and conservation biology programming; and,
  • Enhance the overall NZP digital and in-park visitor experience.