When the Las Vegas Grand Prix gets going Saturday night, the 300,000 people in Sin City won’t be the only ones on hand taking in the action. Orbi, the giant emoji projected on the outside of the Sphere (and plenty of merch inside it), will be watching with his large yellow head and expressive eyes as well. Formula 1 fans will see him turn this way and that and possibly wonder what he’s doing. As it happens, there’s a lot more science in those movements than you might expect.
Sphere’s chief creative officer Ned McNeilage explained to The Hollywood Reporter what’s happening and why.
“Orbi is one of our iconic pieces at Sphere, so for him to track cars and be an F1 fan made a lot of sense. We built a model, a map, that helps us understand where the cameras are on the track in relation to Orbi, and then we receive GPS positioning data from [F1 London headquarters in] Biggin Hill so that his vision will be in perfect sync, pace and timing with a car,” McNeilage said. “He can track any driver throughout the race with his eyes — it’s often the leader but it can be another car if there’s drama or an overtake. But he’s tracking it with his eyes exactly, which we think is pretty cool — he’s watching the race with us. Everything we do at Sphere we try move people emotionally, and people love Orbi. He doesn’t have a favorite though. Every driver is tied for first in his mind.”
You can watch Orbi watching the race in the above video.
