Broncomatic Experimentalism

As part of our research into adaptive thrill rides, we automated a mechanical Bucking Bronco ride, adding computer control to it. This allows us to quickly create small scale rides which adapt themselves to physiological data or anything else which a computer can sense. We call this computer controlled bronco the 'Broncomatic'. It uses a shonky mix of lego, model aircraft servos and a router-cut wood baseplate.

For lots of detail on the development of the Broncomatic, see Joe Marshall's site.

By creating an 'interface parasite' which attaches to an existing ride, and using a bunch of simple scripting to control it, we can prototype ride ideas much more quickly than we can build full rides. For example, our first public experiment was done exactly 38 days after build started on the broncomatic controller. Probably 10-20 different ride programs were tested to make the program for this experiment.

More about the experiment can be found on Joe's site.