Zelaron Gaming Forum - Robot Meets Roller Coaster, Produces Fun

The first robotic amusement park ride is unlike anything you've ever seen.

Leave the carousel and Ferris wheel to the kids and amateurs. Robocoaster is part King Kong, part robot, and all thrill.

Christon Manzella, key technology manager for Kuka's U.S. entertainment division, says amusement park patrons have never seen anything like Robocoaster.

"It's a robot that has a roller coaster harness on the end of it," he says.

First of its kind

Kuka claims to be the first company in the world to use PC controls in its industrial robots. It uses Microsoft Windows to control the freestanding, 30-foot tall, nearly 8,000-pound robotic ride.

"It picks you up and it pulls you through different motions in G forces that get exerted on your body," Manzella says. "It's mainly dynamic movements that nobody's ever seen before.

"Normally, when you're sitting on a roller coaster, you're looking forward and you can look down the roller coaster and you can know where you're going," he says. "In this particular ride, you never know where you're going next."

Choose your excitement level

Riders choose a level from one to five, one being the mildest. Level five, dubbed "Raging Bull" because of its dramatic turns and spins, is the most popular.

One young rider who gave it a whirl at the International Robots and Vision Show last week in Rosemont, Illinois, likened the ride to a traditional roller coaster, but with a little something extra.

"You keep going around in a circle. It's kind of like, in a roller coaster, you keep getting looped around, in those loops. It's kind of like that but it's over and over again," he said.

"It's not Gs anymore. It's like spinning and twisting for a change. Instead of being pushed, it's almost like you're floating at points and stuff," another rider said.

You can find Robocoaster at American World Resort Complex in Wisconsin and Legoland in Denmark.

taken from www.techtv.com