Just as bland and overlooked as the gasoline that makes cars run smoothly are the technologies that help PCs operate efficiently. To counteract that notion of prosaic processors and the like, Intel Corp., with the aid of Taylor Manufacturing Industries Inc. (The Taylor Group), decided to show how its advanced tech could power extraordinary experiences at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Visitors to the 12,000-square-foot exhibit were handed branded bracelets loaded with the company's Curie technology that enabled interactive experiences inside the booth. For example, positioned on the exhibit's four corners were 22-foot-high statues made of aluminum tubing and hand-carved foam. Attendees who wandered near the sculpture representing a sprinter saw a graphic of their heartbeats projected onto it, courtesy of their bracelets. The experiences then accelerated in the 10-by-10-foot racing simulator, where visitors could put the pedal to the metal without fear of getting ticketed or totaled. Once they stepped into the simulator, an additional PC/camera combo employing RealSense, another Intel technology, tracked their eye movements, throwing up obstacles on a virtual racetrack wherever their gaze fell upon the screen.

The experiential episodes reached their crest with a virtual wave that could have inspired a Beach Boys song. On SenseScape, a 12-by-20-foot freestanding structure designed by Patten Studio LLC, Intel incorporated 30 thin bezel TVs, 25 RealSense cameras, and Intel-powered PCs to effect a lifelike illusion of the high seas. Attendees sporting the Curie-based wristbands manipulated schools of virtual fish like conductors of a submerged symphony. By offering powerful experiences over promotional pitches, Intel left guests at CES convinced that its chips possessed as much sorcery as they do silicon. E