Visitors to the LEGOLAND park at Billund find the robot ride simply cool. After all, the Robocoaster is the first ride in the world that they can program for themselves. They can choose from a wide range of ride profiles and speeds, varying from gentle to extreme. Because this interactive and creative participation on the part of the passengers fits in perfectly with the LEGO philosophy, the park promptly invested in ten Robocoasters from KUKA Roboter GmbH.
The earliest entry in the annals of the LEGO Company dates back to 1932 when Ole Kirk Christiansen started to manufacture wooden toys in Billund, Denmark. Since then, his small workshop has developed into one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers and the leading provider of construction toys.
The toys and the company were renamed LEGO in 1934. The name combines the first two letters of each of the Danish words ‘leg godt’, which translates as ‘play well’. The final breakthrough came in 1958 with the invention and patenting of the socketing system, with its limitless combinations, that characterizes the LEGO bricks of today. Since 1960, the company, which now employs about 8,000 people, has manufactured toys made solely of plastic.
Learning through playing
The products and experiences offered by the LEGO Company include the LEGOLAND parks. The educational concept of these family parks is based on the ‘hands-on, minds-on” philosophy which stands for a unique mix of entertainment, creativity, fun, and learning through playing.
The first LEGOLAND park, at Billund, opened to the public in 1968. It quickly became Denmark’s most popular tourist attraction outside Copenhagen. Many millions of visitors have come from all over the world to marvel at the buildings and landscapes in Miniland, and at the exhibitions and shows put on in the park, which contains some 50 million LEGO bricks and provides over 1,000 jobs. This year’s highlight are the Robocoasters from KUKA Roboter GmbH, Augsburg, Germany. Since LEGOLAND uses its own terminology to ensure that its rides stand out from those of the competition, and since the power of the Robocoasters builds up in five stages, the Danes have named it Power Builder.
“When KUKA Roboter contacted us, we were already looking to purchase a new ride,” explains Jørgen Bjerg, the manager responsible for rides and maintenance at LEGOLAND Billund. “The factor that swung the decision in favor of the Power Builder was the fact that visitors can customize the ride experience for themselves. The robots thus fit in with our ‘hands-on, minds-on’ philosophy. When choosing rides we look for ones that are highly interactive. In this respect, the Power Builders differ significantly from other rides where you just get in and sit back passively for the ride.”
Daredevils wanted
The Robocoaster is the first robot in the world to be approved for carrying human passengers. It is based on the KR 500 heavy-duty robot, with which the manufacturer led the way into the 500 kg payload category. With its six axes, the KUKA robot is extremely flexible and can even swing its load upside down. The order from LEGOLAND was for ten Robocoasters together with the retractable platforms used by passengers to board the Robocoaster gondolas, which each seat two passengers. It also included the controller for the robots and platforms.
The visitors can select from a wide range of motion profiles and speeds, depending on how brave they want to be. They can choose a gentle, easy-going pace, or reveal what daredevils they are, opting for a totally wild experience, whirling them up, down and sideways through the air. Here they experience considerable g forces: while the positive g force of +1.9 G represents a near-doubling of body weight, the -1.9 G which also occurs provides a sensation of weightlessness.
The robots are located in the largest building at LEGOLAND Billund: a hall covering a surface area of some 1,800 square meters. The outside entrance area, itself with an area of 250 square meters, is covered with a high-tech roof held up by seven 20-tonne pillars. In front of the building is a landscaped park comprising 5,000 cubic meters of earth and 50 trees.
Inside the hall, which is nine meters high in places, smoke and 100 light beam guns, which pulse in different colors, create an unreal science-fiction atmosphere against an austere steel backdrop. The projectors shoot their light from above and below, immersing each of the robots in a mysterious aura. The two lighting rigs, one in each half of the hall, are the largest in Denmark with a diameter of 17 meters. Some 32 kilometers of cable were required for the electrical installations. For the event of a power failure, the hall has its own separate generator. The capacity of this generator would suffice to supply 30 houses with electricity.
1.4 million possibilities
“On entering the hall that houses the Power Builders, the visitors first go up to one of ten touch-screen terminals,” explains Jørgen Bjerg. There they choose from a large selection of symbolic LEGO bricks, each of which represents a particular motion sequence, in order to create an individual, 90 second long program. Short film clips illustrate the individual motions. A total of 1.4 million combinations are possible.”
First of all, the two passengers who want to ride together enter their heights. Passengers must be at least 120 cm tall, and the height of the smaller passenger automatically determines the highest program level which is permitted. In the second step, a speed profile from level 1 (slow) to level 5 (wild) is selected. Small passengers can only select levels 1 and 2. Then the motion profile is selected. The profiles are the same for all levels, but are carried out more slowly at the lower levels. Furthermore, the Robocoaster is not permitted to swing passengers from 120 to 140 cm upside down.
Once all the data have been entered, the passengers receive a coded chip card with their chosen sequence. Once the card has been inserted in the control terminal of the corresponding robot and the passengers have taken their places in the twin seat, the operator enables the ride. Before the ride starts, however, the system controller checks if there is a child riding who has selected a program which is only permitted for adults. If this is the case, the controller automatically switches to a lower level.
Implementation in record time
Given that the LEGO Company had never even heard of six-axis jointed-arm robots until September 2002, and that KUKA only received the order for the ten Robocoasters in November of the same year, the project was implemented in record time. Jørgen Bjerg has the following explanation for this: “At the end of a season we examine our cash flow. Decisions regarding new investment are then taken very quickly.” The systems were already being installed by the middle of February 2003. They were commissioned at the end of February. The date for the final launch was set for 24 March 2003, the date of acceptance by the TÜV technical inspectorate.
The Robocoasters were immediately hailed by visitors as a new top attraction. Eight and nine-year-olds in particular make a beeline for the six-axis robots, as do Danish families who know the park well and have responded to targeted press and marketing campaigns. Furthermore, when the park opens in the morning, many children and young people run straight to this hall in order to enjoy the ride several times without having to wait. Considering that the ten robots can cope with a total of 560 passengers an hour, however, the waiting times are even relatively short later in the day. According to Jørgen Bjerg: “A survey revealed that it is the combination of high-tech and their own creativity that particularly appeals to people. Some visitors went as far as to say that the Power Builder was the coolest thing they had ever experienced.”
Flexibility for the future
The LEGO Company considers the Robocoaster’s flexibility to be another significant advantage over conventional amusement park rides. Using the PC-based KUKA robot controller, new ride sequences can be programmed, in order to update the LEGO software and create an even more attractive ride. New motions would be possible, for example, or even joysticks for steering the ride while it is underway.
Meanwhile, other LEGOLAND parks are also taking a keen interest in the Robocoaster, but no definite decisions have yet been taken. Based on the positive experience at Billund, however, KUKA Roboter remains confidently optimistic. Not least because the Robocoasters only require about the same capital outlay as the other rides in the park, and because the robots operate with a high degree of availability.
Autor: Jürgen Warmbold, Freier Fachjournalist, 27327 Martfeld