Augmenting amusement rides with telemetry

We present a system that uses wireless telemetry to enhance the experience of fairground and theme park amusement rides. Our system employs wearable technologies to capture video, audio, heart-rate and acceleration data from riders, which are then streamed live to large public displays and are also recorded. This system has been embedded into a theatrical event called Fairground: Thrill Laboratory in which riders are first selected from a watching audience and their captured data is subsequently presented back to this audience and discussed by experts in medical monitoring, psychology and ride design. Drawing on our experience of deploying the system on three contrasting rides, during which time it was experienced by 25 riders and over 500 audience members, we reflect on how such telemetry data can enhance amusement rides for riders and spectators alike, both during and after the ride. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.2.4 [Computer-Communication Networks]: Distributed systems

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ACMACE
• Authors: Brendan Walker, Holger Schnädelbach, Stefan Rennick Egglestone, Angus Clark, Tuvi Orbach, Michael Wright, Kher Hui Ng, Andrew French, Tom Rodden, Steve Benford
• Keywords: ACMACE 2007, Amusement Rides, Human Computer Interaction, Park Amusement Rides, Theme Parks