What happens when you put KUKA roboticists and Disney "imagineers" in the same room?
The result is the Sum of All Thrills, a robocoaster at Epcot, part of Walt Disney World in Florida. Strap yourself to this 6-DOF manipulator and off you go.
You ride under a hood with a screen showing high-def video of a virtual ride. There are even air blowers for added realism. The two-seat ride system keeps your legs suspended, just like in the real thing.
It's also cool that riders can customize their ride. And it appears the ride-design system is not just some mock interface -- it does look really well done, with equations and all.
UPDATE: Or if you have a spare manipulator laying around, you can really design your own ride.
UPDATE 2: Check also this flight simulator developed at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, in Tübingen, Germany, featured in our iCandy series of tech photos this month.
Photo: Anne Faden/Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
Erico Guizzo is the digital product manager at IEEE Spectrum. He oversees the operation, integration, and new feature development for all digital properties and platforms, including the Spectrum website, newsletters, CMS, editorial workflow systems, and analytics and AI tools. He’s the cofounder of the IEEE Robots Guide, an award-winning interactive site about robotics. An IEEE Member, he is an electrical engineer by training and has a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.