Disney looks for new way to monitor thrill ride restraints
Thrill ride restraints can't protect riders if they are not used properly. That's why amusement parks employ ride ops to check your lap bar, shoulder harness, or seat belt before dispatching a ride.
Advanced ride safety systems also can check if restraints are connected. You can see an example of this on Disney's Star Tours, where the cabin attendant looks at a light-up map of seats to see which ones have not yet fastened their seatbelts before clearing your flight for departure.
Now Disney is proposing a new automated system for checking on-ride restraint systems. This one would use a combination of video and machine learning to train computers to see and confirm that your ride restraint is securing you properly.
A new patent application filed this week details Disney's proposal. In short, cameras show video to a computer, which uses that data to determine whether the restraint systems are connected and properly securing passengers. The computer would use machine learning models to determine what is and is not a proper use of the restraint.
If the system determines that the restraint is not properly securing a passenger, it can be programmed to notify operators or take an immediate response. Right now, this is done manually on load platforms and in control towers on many roller coasters and thrill rides, where ride operators are looking to see that everyone is remaining seated and secured. Disney's system trains a computer to do that job, whether as a backstop or replacement for human monitoring.
"The system may use the video analytics to verify that the passenger is in the seat in the vehicle, to directly monitor when the passenger has been secured with the passenger restraint, and to verify that the passenger restraint is being used as intended. The automatic process implemented by the system may complement the responsibility of the operator to ensure the passenger is adequately secured in the vehicle," the application said.
Smile for Disney's restraint cameras! Image from Disney's patent application
"While operators are quite skilled at this task of inspecting the passenger and the seat belt, this task is a time-consuming due to the number of passengers and seat belts to inspect and/or due to the level of attention required by the operator to check the details needed to perform this task," the application said.
The application also notes the limitations of a Star Tours-type attachment sensor: "The sensor devices are not configured to detect whether the passenger is inadvertently sitting on a buckled seat belt and/or whether a buckled seat belt has been excessively extended."
You can read Disney's complete patent application here: System and Method for Verifying Proper Usage of Passenger Restraints.
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