- Number
- 11294378
- Published
- 2022-04-05
- Filed
- 2018-03-29
- Assignee
- Disney Enterprises, Inc.
- Inventors
- Ilardi; Michael J., Mezzatesta, III; Frank D., Becker; Jonathan Michael, Dill; Dawson McLeod, Sciaraffa; Luke Andrew, Hager, IV; Joseph George, Hogue, Jr.; William Bennett
- CPC
- A63G25/00; A63G31/02; A63G33/00; B60N2/01; B60W50/10; B62D15/00; G05D1/0212
- Verdict
- High Hardware
- Source
- Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline
The keeper's note
Holonomic ride-vehicle hardware with autonomous/collaborative control.
Abstract
A system for use in a park attraction to provide collaborative driving experiences. The system includes a vehicle including a body with passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction. The system also includes a system controller (running an attraction/game control module) that operates to: (a) receive user input from each of the user input assemblies; (b) process the user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector associated with each of the user input assemblies; (c) combine the control vectors from all of the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; (d) generate a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and (e) transmit the drive control signal to the vehicle.
Background
BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Description (1) The present description relates, in general, to amusement and theme park rides or attractions with vehicles that have their movements controlled, at least in part, by the vehicle occupants or passengers. More particularly, the present description relates to an attraction, which may be implemented at an amusement or theme park or other entertainment facility, that includes one-to-many holonomic vehicles, which are each configured to have operations (e.g., vehicle movement defined by direction of travel and/or velocity) controlled in a collaborative manner by the vehicle's passengers. 2. Relevant Background (2) Amusement and theme parks are popular worldwide with hundreds of millions of people visiting the parks each year. Park operators continuously seek new designs for attractions and rides that attract and entertain park visitors in new ways to encourage more and more people to visit their parks and to provide unique experiences that differ from those available at other parks. (3) Recently, there has been an increasing demand for rides that allow the participants to interact. In some rides, passengers in a vehicle can operate devices in their vehicles to interact with objects outside the vehicle such as to collect points as the vehicle moves along a fixed ride path. In other rides, the ride path is generally fixed or constrained, but passengers can provide input to operate the vehicle such as to spin or to move up and down with a pr
Claims
1. A system for use in a park attraction that provides a collaborative driving experience, comprising: a vehicle including a body with a plurality of passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction; and a system controller operating to: receive user input from each of the user input assemblies; process the user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector associated with each of the user input assemblies; combine the control vectors from all of the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; generate a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and transmit the drive control signal to the vehicle, wherein the holonomic drive system operates in response to the drive control signal to move on the driving surface of the park attraction. ||
13. A system for use in a park attraction that provides a collaborative driving experience, comprising: a vehicle including a body with a plurality of passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction; and a system controller running a control module that: processes user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector for each of the user input assemblies; combines the control vectors from the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; generates a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and transmits the drive control signal to the vehicle to operate the holonomic drive, wherein the system controller, before generating the drive control signal, modifies the resultant vector based upon operating parameters of the vehicle, based upon game play data for the park attraction, or based on detection of an upcoming collision with an obstacle or other vehicle. ||
18. A system for use in a park attraction that provides a collaborative driving experience, comprising: a vehicle including a body including a plurality of user input assemblies and a drive system adapted to move the body about the park attraction; and a system controller operating to: receive user input from each of the user input assemblies; process the user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a drive control signal; and transmit the drive control signal to the vehicle, wherein the drive system operates in response to the drive control signal to travel within the park attraction, wherein a fuel or power level value is assigned to each of the user assemblies, and wherein the processing of the user input from each of the user input assemblies comprises multiplying a predefined magnitude of acceleration or velocity by the fuel or power level value. ||
21. A system for use in a park attraction that provides a collaborative driving experience, comprising: a vehicle including a body with a plurality of passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction; and a system controller operating to: receive user input from each of the user input assemblies; process the user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector associated with each of the user input assemblies; combine the control vectors from all of the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; generate a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and transmit the drive control signal to the vehicle, wherein the holonomic drive system operates in response to the drive control signal to move on the driving surface of the park attraction, wherein the control vectors each define a direction of travel on the driving surface and a magnitude of acceleration, wherein a fuel or power level value is assigned to each of the user assemblies, wherein the processing of the user input from each of the user input assemblies comprises multiplying the magnitude of acceleration by the fuel or power level value, and wherein the fuel or power level value is decreased based on length of time in which a corresponding one of the user input assemblies is operated to provide input and is increased based on length of time in which the corresponding one of the user input assemblies is not operated. ||
22. A system for use in a park attraction that provides a collaborative driving experience, comprising: a vehicle including a body with a plurality of passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction; and a system controller operating to: receive user input from each of the user input assemblies; process the user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector associated with each of the user input assemblies; combine the control vectors from all of the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; generate a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and transmit the drive control signal to the vehicle, wherein the holonomic drive system operates in response to the drive control signal to move on the driving surface of the park attraction, wherein the control vectors each define a direction of travel on the driving surface and a magnitude of acceleration, wherein a fuel or power level value is assigned to each of the user assemblies, wherein the processing of the user input from each of the user input assemblies comprises multiplying the magnitude of acceleration by the fuel or power level value, and wherein the fuel or power level is increased when the system control detects that the vehicle has made virtual contact with or passed over a virtual fuel or power up object or senses the vehicle has touched a physical fuel or power up object. ||
23. A system for use in a park attraction that provides a collaborative driving experience, comprising: a vehicle including a body with a plurality of passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction; and a system controller running a control module that: processes user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector for each of the user input assemblies; combines the control vectors from the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; generates a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and transmits the drive control signal to the vehicle to operate the holonomic drive, wherein the system controller, before generating the drive control signal, modifies the resultant vector based upon operating parameters of the vehicle, based upon game play data for the park attraction, or based on detection of an upcoming collision with an obstacle or other vehicle, wherein the control vectors each define a direction of travel on the driving surface and a magnitude of acceleration or velocity, wherein a fuel or power level value is assigned to each of the user assemblies, wherein the processing of the user input from each of the user input assemblies comprises multiplying the magnitude of acceleration or velocity by the fuel or power level value, and wherein the fuel or power level value is decreased based on length of time in which a corresponding one of the user input assemblies is operated to provide input and is increased based on length of time in which the corresponding one of the user input assemblies is not operated.