A controversial new "thrill ride," has been added to New York's Coney Island, only it's not actually a ride, and most would agree, there is no "thrill" in waterboarding.

The store front attraction uses robots that look human to depict the act of waterboarding, a method of torture that gives the victim a feeling of drowning. A life size figure in a dark sweat suit and holding a bucket of water stands over a figure in an orange jump suit who is tied to a tilted board. Putting a dollar into a machine causes the robotic man in the sweat suit to dump water onto the face of the bound figure, whose face is covered by a towel. For 15 seconds, voyeurs watch the robot in the orange jumpsuit convulse.

The artist responsible for the new "Waterboarding Thrill Ride," Steve Powers, told the New York Times he built the installation and put it in such an unlikely spot to make people think about the practice, which has been a source of controversy since reports surfaced that waterboarding had been used as a means of coercion for terror detainees at the Defense Department's facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Some Coney Island visitors are reportedly dismayed by the display, while others say it's interesting and educational.

Powers told reporters he and a small group of lawyers have plans to be professionally waterboarded on Aug. 15, so they can benefit from the knowledge of what the practice actually feels like.

After Aug. 15, the sideshow will be moved to Manhattan's Park Avenue Armory, where it will be displayed among other projects from Democracy in America, an exhibit series sponsored by Creative Time, which as a public art fund.