Swiss rides manufacturer ABC Rides put extra focus on their unique water ride system, called the Smart Boat Ride, at the IAAPA Expo Europe in Amsterdam. It will allow for a gentle boat ride and is applicable for both outdoor and indoor uses and has great potential to be used on dark rides because of a special feature.
The Smart Boat Ride consists of boats that follow a submerged guide rail. The system creates a smooth ride experience similar to that of a tow boat ride, but has unique features that set it apart. Each boat features its own drive system, so it can move independently from both the water flow and other boats on the track. This provides the ability for variable speeds. On a dark ride, a boat can speed up and slow down at different scenes.
To achieve this, each boat has its own propeller system which is powered by an on-board battery. To ensure safety, each vehicle is equipped with an anti-collision system based on LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors. These features make the Smart Boat Ride a fully autonomous ride system. The boats have a top speed of approximaly 4,5 km/h, which is a quite considerable speed as most tow boats top out at between 2 and 3 km/h.
“The only thing we install into the bottom of the channel is the rail, regardless if it’s a natural body of water or a concrete channel that is built. The rest is actually on the boat itself. The interface between boat and rail and all the technical parts you need access to for maintenance is all on the boat,” says Johan Forsbergh, Sales Manager at ABC Rides. “The fact that you don’t have many technical parts submerged under the water makes it a robust, simple and very maintenance friendly system.”
ABC Rides presented a boat design that features 6 rows for 4 persons each, a total of 24 riders per boat for high capacity. These boats have a turning radius of approximately 9 meters, which is quite large. However, the boats can be refitted to match the required specifications of any costumer, both reducing and enlarging the boat size. Smaller boats will allow for a smaller bend radius. On top of that, by removing several rows, a boats can be designed so that it has space for a wheelchair in the back.
All technical components on the boat are located within the boat structure, not visible to passengers. This makes the Smart Boat Ride is a great solution for immersive applications like scenic boat rides or dark rides. The ability of the ride system to speed up and slow down in different scenes creates exciting possibilities for storytelling that have not been seen in dark rides outside of Disney before.
