Andrew, if you block my last post, I will go over your head. On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 2:15 AM, Michael Hayes <voglerl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Andrew, this statement "I'm certainly not going to be wading through > Stephen's maths to check whether he's got his sums right!" Should be your > resignation statement from this forums Moderation post. > > Any comments or suggestions? > > Thanks, > > Michael > > > > On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 5:25 PM, Andrew Lockley > <andrew.lock...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> There's been some discussion about Stephen's ships recently. For an >> article about alternative robot sailing boat designs which are fully >> operational, you can see this link: >> >> >> http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028126.400-sailbots-head-for-the-high-seas.html? >> >> >> <http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028126.400-sailbots-head-for-the-high-seas.html?>I'm >> certainly not going to be wading through Stephen's maths to check whether >> he's got his sums right! >> >> A >> >> PEOPLE have been sailing the world for centuries, but ask a robot to do >> the same and it quickly falls down. >> >> Last year Mark Neal, a computer scientist at the University of >> Aberystwyth, UK, oversaw the launch of Pinta, a robotic sailing boat that >> set off from the west coast of Ireland in an attempt to be the first >> automaton to cross the Atlantic Ocean. His team lost communication with the >> boat just over two days later. The voyage was still an achievement: >> "Forty-nine hours is the longest period of unattended autonomous sailing >> that has happened," says Neal. >> >> When uncrewed aircraft can master flight so readily, it might seem strange >> that it is so hard for a robot to sail a boat. In fact, the challenges are >> very different. "Some of the longest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights >> are a day or two. If something stays up for 24 hours, that's a pretty >> outstanding achievement," says Neal. In contrast, a useful robo-boat needs >> to run for months using only sails and solar power (see "Why build a >> robot >> sailor?")<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028126.400-sailbots-head-for-the-high-seas.html?full=true#bx281264B1>. >> During that time the solar panels could get caked with salt, the craft could >> be damaged, and barnacles and weed could grow on the rudder. >> >> What's more, while UAVs have to cope with weather changes, the conditions >> they operate in are fairly stable compared with those of the ocean, Neal >> says. "The boat needs to deal flexibly with an unpredictable environment," >> says Roland Stelzer of the Austrian Society for Innovative Computer Sciences >> in Vienna. Stelzer is in charge of Roboat, an automated 3.75-metre-long boat >> that has won the World Robotic Sailing Championship for the past three years >> by successfully completing tasks including a 24-hour endurance race and >> navigation between tightly spaced buoys. >> >> Stelzer puts Roboat's success down to its computer "brain", which mimics >> two human sailing abilities. One system plots the best route by calculating >> the heading that takes best advantage of wind speed and direction in >> relation to the destination. >> >> The other keeps the boat on the desired course. It does this by >> considering factors like how far the boat is heeling and whether waves have >> pushed it off course, and then adjusting the rudder position to make both >> small corrections and sudden turns. >> >> However, each competition took place within 4 kilometres of the shore. "We >> had to monitor the boat all the time either from shore or on a chasing >> boat," Stelzer says. >> >> The Pinta is smaller and less sophisticated, in case the boat is lost at >> sea. Stelzer's craft might be robust enough to cross the Atlantic, but he is >> reluctant to try - losing such an expensive rig would be a huge setback. >> >> Instead, the first robotic sailors to spend long periods at sea may come >> from the Protei project, which aims to build autonomous craft for cleaning >> up oil spills. Conceived by designer Cesar Harada, who also leads the >> project, the boats have a unique articulated design that allows the hull to >> flex in order to best use the wind while turning. >> >> The hardware is open source, meaning that anyone can work on or modify the >> design and help solve problems. "It's a collaboration with people worldwide >> contributing their best knowledge and enthusiasm," says Peim Wirtz, who >> manages the project from the V2 centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The >> concepts behind Protei have undergone small-scale tests, and the team will >> now build a full-scale prototype after raising nearly $35,000 on the >> crowd-funding website Kickstarter last month. "We have over 300 backers that >> thought the initiative was worth sponsoring," says Wirtz. >> >> So will we see robots sail the seas any time soon? Wirtz hopes to complete >> the Protei prototype by September and Pinta will be making another >> transatlantic attempt at the same time. "If we didn't think it was possible, >> we wouldn't be trying," Neal says. "Someone will do it, and I'd like that to >> be us." >> Why build a robot sailor? >> >> A boat that sails itself would be a nice bit of tech, but what are the >> practical benefits? A craft using only sails and solar power would be ideal >> for long-term missions, says Roland Stelzer of the Austrian Society for >> Innovative Computer Sciences. >> >> "In the future, autonomous sailing boats will be used for tasks such as >> maritime monitoring, reconnaissance and surveillance, and carbon >> dioxide-neutral transportation of goods," he says. Robotic sailboats could >> also operate in swarms, allowing them to tackle large-scale problems like >> gathering meteorological data in remote stretches of ocean or measuring >> water pollution. They could even be used to rescue refugees. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "geoengineering" group. >> To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. >> > > > > -- > *Michael Hayes* > *360-708-4976* > http://www.wix.com/voglerlake/vogler-lake-web-site > > > -- *Michael Hayes* *360-708-4976* http://www.wix.com/voglerlake/vogler-lake-web-site -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
