Systems and methods for customizing amusement park attraction experiences using pneumatic robotic systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10456696-B2
Application number	US-201715703748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2017
Priority date	Sep 13, 2016
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A system may include a housing that may hold a body of water, an inflatable assembly disposed within the body of water, and a processor. The processor may receive an indication related to a speed of a flow of the body of water and send a signal to at least one valve coupled between the inflatable assembly and a fluid source in response to the indication. The signal may cause the at least one valve to fluidly couple the inflatable assembly to the fluid source to cause the inflatable assembly to expand to an inflated configuration.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ride system, comprising:
a housing configured to hold a liquid;
a sensor configured to detect a speed of a flow of the liquid within the housing;
an inflatable assembly disposed at a bottom of the housing, wherein the inflatable assembly comprises a plurality of inflatable compartments configured to reduce the speed of the flow of the liquid when the plurality of inflatable compartments is in an inflated configuration as compared to when the plurality of inflatable compartments is in a deflated configuration; and
a processor configured to:
receive the detected speed of the flow of the liquid from the sensor; and
send a signal to at least one valve coupled between the inflatable assembly and a fluid source in response to the detected speed of the flow of the liquid, wherein the signal is configured to cause the at least one valve to fluidly couple the inflatable assembly to the fluid source to cause the plurality of inflatable compartments to expand to the inflated configuration, and wherein the plurality of inflatable compartments form a grid shape in the inflated configuration.

2. The ride system of claim 1 , wherein the inflatable assembly is configured to increase friction against the flow of the liquid when the plurality of inflatable compartments is in the inflated configuration.

3. The ride system of claim 1 , wherein the grid pattern is configured to store a portion of the liquid in a plurality of apertures formed within the plurality of inflatable compartments in the inflated configuration.

4. The ride system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
receive physical data regarding a user; and
determine a level of the inflated configuration based on the physical data and the speed of the flow of the liquid.

5. The ride system of claim 1 , wherein the detected speed corresponds to a level of force to be exerted on a user while the user is traversing the liquid within the housing.

6. The ride system of claim 1 , wherein the inflatable assembly is configured to direct a user to a portion of a slide feature.

7. An inflatable assembly of a park attraction, comprising:
a slide assembly comprising a first zone and a second zone separated from the first zone by a distance, wherein the slide assembly comprises a surface that couples the first zone to the second zone, and wherein the surface forms an incline with respect to a plane that corresponds to a bottom of the slide assembly;
an inflatable object positioned in the first zone of the slide assembly;
one or more valves, wherein the one or more valves are controllable and configured to direct fluid flow into the inflatable object such that the inflatable object adjusts the incline of the slide assembly when the inflatable object is in an inflated configuration; and
a processor configured to:
receive an input from a user, wherein the input corresponds to an angle of the incline of the slide assembly; and
send one or more signals to one or more actuators, wherein the one or more signals are configured to cause the one or more actuators to adjust one or more positions of the one or more valves to control the fluid flow into the inflatable object based on the received input.

8. The inflatable assembly of claim 7 , comprising a suction pump configured to pull fluid out of the inflatable object.

9. The inflatable assembly of claim 7 , wherein the angle of the incline corresponds to a level of the inflated configuration.

10. The inflatable assembly of claim 9 , wherein the level of the inflated configuration comprises a pressure inside the inflated object.

11. The inflatable assembly of claim 7 ,
wherein the inflatable object adjusts a contour of the slide assembly between the first zone and the second zone in the inflated configuration.

12. The slide assembly of claim 7 , wherein the received input corresponds to a desired speed or force associated with a user traversing the slide assembly.

Assignees

• Universal City Studios Llc

Inventors

• Cortelyou Robert
• Osterman Ross
• Schwartz Justin
• Zielkowski Amanda
• Correll Caitlin A
• Hughes Darrin
• Vyas Anisha

Classifications

• G06F30/20

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title

• A63G3/00

  Water roundabouts, e.g. freely floating · CPC title

• A63G31/12 Primary

  with inflatable and movable substructures · CPC title

• A63G21/18

  Water-chutes · CPC title

• A63B2208/12

  specially adapted for children · CPC title