October 10, 2008
Disney’s Toy Story Midway Mania uses PROFINET for ride control. I refered to it briefly in an earlier post, “So an engineer walks into a theme park…”. Now Control Engineering has a very comprehensive article on it, complete with video: “Automation and Ethernet Combine for 3D Disney Attraction”.
I spoke with Dave Greenfield, Control Engineering editorial director about his article at the PTO General Assembly Meeting this August. He indicated that he did get a behind-the-scenes look at the attraction, but… he wasn’t allowed to take the camera there. Bummer. Never-the-less, I recommend the full 28-minute video. In the last 10 minutes the discussion about fieldbuses applies just as much to industry as to amusement rides.