Author name: Laura Weisskopf Bleill

CHAMPAIGN — Earlier this month, the Brunswick Boating Intelligence Design Lab, based at the University of Illinois Research Park, made waves at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The lab, which focuses on integrating cutting-edge technology into the boating industry, showcased its latest advancements with the help of University of Illinois Research Park student interns. CES is a technology showcase that brings together innovations across the tech landscape. Brunswick used the event to highlight its ‘boating intelligence’ initiative to advance its ACES strategy—autonomous, connected, electrified, and shared—by incorporating artificial intelligence and modern technologies into its products. At the showcase, Brunswick featured a 200-degree virtual boat helm simulator and a Fliteboard simulator, which allowed visitors to experience riding the company’s electric hydrofoil and the latest developments in its autonomous docking system. These exhibits attracted significant attention, with many participants visiting to try the simulators firsthand. Brunswick’s Research Park site interns played a vital role in the event. They presented the simulations and explained the technologies behind them to attendees. Jeffery Reifsnyder, the Boating Intelligence Design Lab director, praised their contributions. “The interns that we brought with us did a phenomenal job,” Jeffrey Reifsnyder said in a News-Gazette article. “The Brunswick booth was perpetually busy, and the simulators that the students worked on had a significant chunk of the foot traffic stopping at their areas. The students handled themselves well through all of it.”