Fans of the Seattle Mariners might have a lot of questions about why their team is off to a slow start this season. Amazon’s Alexa probably doesn’t have the answers, but the voice-activated artificial intelligence can perform other tasks now at Safeco Field.
Guests in 59 private suites at the Mariners home ballpark now have access to Amazon Echo devices enabled with an Alexa skill geared toward helping users further enjoy being out at the old ballgame.
With the voice prompt “Alexa, ask the Mariners to …,” users are able to call for their suite attendant and order food and drinks from a preset menu. They can also change the channel and adjust the volume on TV monitors, get information about the baseball schedule and play Mariners trivia.
Suite guests looking for further distraction can ask to see the live feed from two cameras that offer Mariners coaches and scouts a unique perspective, according to a news release from the M’s. The Home Plate Sky Cam looks directly down at home to show how balls break as they cross the plate. The Pitcher Cam, which is mounted on the screen just behind the catcher, approximates the view of the batter.
“Our daily lives are increasingly online,” Dave Curry, Mariners VP for information services, said in the release. “Offering Amazon Echo at the ballpark is a natural extension of that connectivity. It’s especially fitting that Safeco Field, right here in Amazon’s hometown, should be the first sports facility to offer this technology to our guests.”
Amazon announced during its earnings report last week that Alexa now has more than 12,000 skills.
