Abstract
While theme parks offer novel attractions and thrilling experiences to millions of guests, an unavoidable problem is the exclusivity of these parks. To expand the potential audience for amusement rides, portable rides bring the experience to the customers. Portable rides are used in carnivals, fairs, and other events to give park goers a thrilling experience without the need for extensive traveling. As exciting as these portable rides are, they pose significant challenges to ride engineers due to the tight space constraints. The RIDE Engineering competition poses this challenge to university students, by inviting them to design and create their own portable rides. Our team addressed this challenge with a 3 degree of freedom robotic arm called Yesteryear that flings sixteen riders through a pre-programed motion path, reaching peak accelerations of 2G’s. This ride was developed through extensive simulation, real world testing, and performed for six hours at Hershey Park Pennsylvania, winning rookie of the year. Yesteryear also features extensive safety features and complete compliance with ASTM F24. This technical report outlines the extensive development, testing, and fabrication that went into Yesteryear, and highlights the importance of codes and regulations in producing reliable and effective products.
Just like theme parks, slot machines also use flashing lights, satisfying visuals, and exciting interactions to entice engagement, but they have much more in common with social media than with amusement rides. My STS research explores how hidden systems within technology persist, regardless of the negative outcomes. Social construction of technology is a framework that is often used to analyze a technology and its relation to society, but in this case it offers insight into how society allows such technology to persist. Using slot machines and social media as two case studies, my research concludes that due to interpretive flexibility, a core tenet of SCOT, different social groups are unable to take collective action against hidden systems, thus allowing them to persist.
