The parallels between advanced marine robotics and theme park rollercoasters may appear only fleeting at first glance, but specialized engineering for the theme park industry has always been an important part of the SeaRobotics service portfolio. Our mainstay ocean industry customers—mostly commercial and military entities looking to invest in Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) technology—are usually surprised to hear that we have a well-established client list in the entertainment industry. “So, you guys build rollercoasters, too?” they often quiz.
Well, no, not quite.
But the worlds of unmanned marine systems and sophisticated theme park rides do coalesce around a common engineering challenge: to design and install high-specification, failsafe control systems.
Over the years, operating out of our state-of-the-art fabrication and testing facility in Stuart, Florida, we have partnered with a number of world-renowned theme park ride vendors to develop essential ride equipment, custom components, and, of course, roller coaster parts—mostly switches, chain lifts, and brakes.
This division of SeaRobotics has developed significantly over the last twenty years and today has become one of the leading providers of complex parts engineering and manufacturing in the world, which not only serves the local U.S. market but has extensive experience of working on projects in Europe and Australasia.
Conveniently located just off the I-95/FL Turnpike in Central Florida, we are proud to offer our customers access to an elite team of fabrication experts, qualified machinists, and accomplished electrical engineers—a combined experience in excess 500 years of complex parts development, which includes over 150 years in electrical and hydraulic machine design, embedded control systems and software. Our engineering services department is supported by an onsite assembly plant—fully equipped with cutting-edge CNC machinery, mills, weld shop, and NDT inspection equipment—and various test and evaluation facilities, including a large test lake.
There is no question that our track record of engineering robust offshore equipment for the ocean industries is one of the reasons that the entertainment industry trusts us to deliver failproof design and manufacturing services, but we also operate to a documented QMS System in accordance with ISO 9000 guidelines and boast an established reputation for managing to precise design requirements—from concept to fabrication, to test and delivery, and final installation.
This service quality guarantee is further bolstered by our capacity to accommodate projects of any size. Much of our work is custom so we use an integrated management system to track each phase of a project—design, engineering, software, inventory, quality control and production—to ensure things run to budget and schedule. Our in-house team develops the software needed for our control systems, while our QC department inspects parts and assemblies to print and offers non-destructive testing and factory acceptance testing and validation.
Whether it is complex geometric composite molding, structural test and evaluation services, or the fabrication of the key elements that keep a ride system running as designed, we at SeaRobotics are staffed to help park owners conceptualize, design and engineer a new ride to the highest safety and manufacturing specifications.
Find out more about our Specialized Engineering Capabilities for Theme Park Entertainment Systems
