You may fantasize about owning a drone aircraft like the ones that the US uses to take out terrorists on the far side of the world. But you know that's not going to happen.
But how about having your own small aquatic drone which has a camera that you could use to view things on the surface or underwater and which you could control from a smartphone or tablet? That is close to reality.
Check out Ziphius: The Aquatic Drone.
And watch this video.
Want one?
What would you use it for?
5 comments:
This reminds me, did you ever hear anything about what happened to SCOUT?
Mommy drone!!
It would indeed be an excellent tool for a coach or a parent to follow a young sailor around the course without having to do it in a real boat. Perhaps we will see droves of drones following Optis around the race course in a few years?
On the first attempt, the launch site of Fogland beach required Scout to motor through the Sakonnet River for ~4 hours against the wind burning through battery reserves. Due to the lack of sun on launch day, Scout was unable to replenish the power used on the River motoring and went into a normal "drift" mode at about 10pm. This left Scout at the mercy of the wind and currents for 9 hours until it was able to gain some sunlight and sprang to life again at 7am. Unfortunately this overnight drift left Scout far too close to the No Man's Land Island and required rescue.
So on the second attempt they launched it from the mouth of the Sakonnet in the middle of the night. Presumably it had enough charge in its batteries to keep motoring through the night and then the next day was sunny so the solar power kicked in. It was going very well for a while and looked to be well past the islands to the north when it started sailing erratically and drifting towards the islands again. The team recovered the boat a second time and there are some pics on their FB page now of what they found. Looks like some electronic component got fried - the rudder servo I think.
Thanks! I'll have to "like" their facebook page. Maybe third time will be the charm.
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