I wonder how long before drugs are smuggled with drone ships.
A submarine was already caught doing it
manned submarines though I assume?
Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
41–50 of 95 posts
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#42A friend of mine runs this one in Cambridge, really amazing tech:
Autonomous Marine Systems
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#43> They’ve all come back without a single scratch, just a beard of barnacles Solution: https://wyss.harvard.edu/barnacles-and-mussels-wont-stick-to...
Whoa, if they mandated that on boats, I wonder if it could stop the spread of invasive zebra mussels between lakes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel#North_American_in...
One way they spread is by sticking to boats that owners take to a different lake without cleaning them. Cleaning isn't optional, but since it takes work it is unrealistic to believe everyone is going to actually do it. So despite campaigns to prevent it, zebra mussels keep spreading.
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#44Younger researchers no longer want to spend that much time at sea, cut off from most of the internet. “It’s really hard to get the younger generation excited about going to sea,” says NOAA’s Meinig. “People think it’s romantic and then find they can’t text their friends and don’t have access to hundreds of channels of TV. It’s just a different style of life.” Fascinating. I guess the Saildrone is the ideal solution.
That sounds like an oversimplification (read: a poor excuse).
Put another way, I bet the pay is low and the the on-ship amenities lacking. Expecting ppl to give you something for nothing isn't SMS's fault.
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#45Saw the video yesterday on YouTube. I wonder what happens if they get into very strong winds or very strong swell - if they tip over, do they get up by themselves? What happens if they submerge? Apparently they figured out how to do it, but my question is, how exactly are they doing it?
I've actually seen one of these at sea. Not this particular one but a similar autonomous vessel. Large swells aren't a problem. If it floats a swell will pass under it. Breaking swells are a concern and usually occur under gale force winds. A boat has a displacement that is less than water. Which is how it floats. A small weighted bulb in the keel keeps everything pointing upright. You can mitigate the forces on a sa…
Back when I was a kid sailing dinghies, we did a competition on the lake of the designer of Miss Nylex. An early and primitive wing sail design, it still kicked ass in high winds and could apparently tow a waterskier.
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#46> “It’s fuel, consumables, and I don’t even want to tell you what our satellite bill is for data,” Interesting - the circumference of the earth is roughly 40 thousand km. If these could manage to lift an antenna either 140m (or equivalently 70m for all participants) - distance to Horizon should be roughly 40 km. So a thousand boats could form a theoretical relay net around a theoretical line in the ocean reaching aro…
There is a system of AIS to broadcast position, course and speed of marine vessels. Perhaps one could combine this with a mesh relay network to forward packets to boats in the direction of land. An AIS and long range WiFi-like system running on top of sailor’s masts would be a fun community to bring together. Software defined radios could come in handy to handle multiple frequencies and protocols. https://www.marinet…
something like http://aprs.org
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's interesting. 70 meters is a pretty dang tall aerial for something with that small a footprint to hold aloft, though. That plan also limits their range of movement severely to keep the network intact, but I guess they could use satellite as a backup. Maybe a kite of some kind, but how do you reliably launch and retrieve it? I dunno, I think in practice the satellite may be cheaper.
Disposable paper hot-air balloon for lift, retractable antenna? Or perhaps better yet: disposable paper kite?
Your comment, while I assume you earnestly meant, is enigmatic of the gap between what the lay person may think works at sea and the very harsh and unforgiving reality of the Sea.
Source: my father was an engineer at a marine engineering company
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#48I wonder how long before drugs are smuggled with drone ships.
Exactly my thought. They could have these produced for cheap and throw an army of them into the oceans. Pretty sure the new Escobar equivalents are already working on it.
As implied above, the tech isn't the problem. However, Lumbergh equivalents probably shoot them down with narratives like Seinfeld's Michigan Recycling scam [0].
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1blsZxXDCU
Which is to say- If the drones are too cheap, they probably don't move enough product to justify operator costs and loss risk from conditions. If the drones are bigger, they pose loss risk from coast guard.
Given that cigarette boats were the 80's maxima for sea transport, I suspect that - with current capabilities - the risk/cost/reward for sea drone transport of drugs is saddle shaped.
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#49Younger researchers no longer want to spend that much time at sea, cut off from most of the internet. “It’s really hard to get the younger generation excited about going to sea,” says NOAA’s Meinig. “People think it’s romantic and then find they can’t text their friends and don’t have access to hundreds of channels of TV. It’s just a different style of life.” Fascinating. I guess the Saildrone is the ideal solution.
That sounds like an oversimplification (read: a poor excuse). Put another way, I bet the pay is low and the the on-ship amenities lacking. Expecting ppl to give you something for nothing isn't SMS's fault.
It seems on-board amenities exactly what's being talked about (and, yes, arguably over-simplified) here.
Or are you making a distinction between luxuries and basic living conditions (space, privacy, quality/healthfulness of food)? For some people, no level of internet access would make hot-bunking tolerable.
Re: Ocean-going robots that could revolutionize fishing, drilling, and science
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine autonomous bicycles using gyroscopes to stay stable, highly integrated camera's with environment comprehension (Waymo off-the-shelf chips) to redistribute them over the city at night.
I love the vision of a fleet of riderless bikes taking themselves to where the system anticipates their need for the next day. However, I also suspect that there will be a lot of car/automated-bicycle accidents since bicycle visibility at night isn't particularly high, and relies a lot on the rider's choice of visible clothing.
That's seems the easiest to solve, just put lights on the bike. There are already many products for this, some of them very visible.