Trackless Ride Path Control for Personalized Rider Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Amusement park rides, particularly trackless dark ride systems, face a challenge in maintaining guest attraction over time, leading to costly changes in structural tracks, scenic elements, and attraction media to revitalize the experience.
Innovation Solution
A trackless ride system that allows individualized ride experiences through rider input, using wireless communicators, independent vehicle controllers, and facility-mounted sensors to dynamically select and change ride paths, enabling riders to control their journey within a predefined area, incorporating decision points and multi-dimensional peripheral object detection for a personalized experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If costly changes are made to structural track, scenic elements, and attraction media to revitalize the ride experience, then guest attraction is improved, but capital investment and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic path selection where ride vehicles can autonomously choose different traversal paths through the ride environment based on programmed logic or random selection. This dynamic behavior allows the same physical infrastructure to provide varied experiences without requiring structural changes to tracks or scenic elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters (vehicle paths, timing, sequencing) rather than physical infrastructure. By modifying which paths vehicles take and when they traverse them, the ride experience is revitalized without capital investment in structural modifications.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the ride system uses fixed predefined paths, then system complexity is reduced, but guest attraction and experience variety decrease over time
Solution Approach 1:
Ride vehicles autonomously select and execute their own paths through the ride environment without requiring complex centralized control for each vehicle. The vehicles self-manage their traversal sequences, reducing the complexity of the control system while providing path variety.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple predefined paths are established in advance during system design, allowing vehicles to select from pre-planned routes. This preliminary preparation of path options enables experience variety without requiring complex real-time decision-making or dynamic path generation.
3Ease of operation
If rider-controlled interfaces are added to allow path selection, then guest engagement and attraction longevity improve, but device complexity and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
A wireless communicator serves as an intermediary between riders and the vehicle controller, allowing riders to input path selection preferences without requiring complex interfaces integrated into the vehicle. The wireless interface handles the complexity of rider interaction while keeping the vehicle controller relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle controller is designed to handle multiple functions including autonomous path selection, rider input processing, and coordination with other vehicles. By making the controller multi-functional, the system reduces the need for separate specialized devices, managing complexity through consolidation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A trackless vehicle may be dispatched in a ride path comprising a predefined path and a set of optional predefined paths by receiving, such as by an on-board trackless vehicle controller, a rider identifier associated with a rider who is associated with the trackless vehicle, either a rider about to board the trackless vehicle or a rider who has boarded the trackless vehicle. Upon receipt, identification, and validation of the rider identifier, a predetermined set of optional predefined paths available to and associated with the validated rider identifier are identified and one or more of the predefined paths are selected, with the trackless vehicle being commanded to proceed onto the selected predefined path.