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Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

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Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#51

Post by Apocryphon »

aeternum wrote: post #50
quasse wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My alma matter (which is directly on a lake) has been gradually banning all unsupervised swimming for students because someone gets blackout drunk and drowns themself in the lake every year. I think it's a tragedy; I spent a lot of my formative time enjoying the lake and the outdoors (not to mention it being one of the few healthy ways to escape the stress of engineering school). The school is also gradually eroding…

What's interesting is that we may be causing much more loss of life with these bans than we are saving. We ban or severely restrict many physical activities then we wonder why childhood obesity is so high and why so many kids have metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular issues. Since the link is indirect we ignore it and a heart-attack is just considered bad luck.

Swimming is not the only form of cardiovascular exercise and open water is not the only place to swim.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#52

Post by cypherpunks01 »

brink wrote: post #5

Speaking of beach safety, this reminds me that I've been meaning to buy one of these. https://kingiistore.com/ I totally understand that not everyone wants to wear a life jacket all the time, me included.

I love this. An incredibly simple design for instant buoyancy. I'd think the device could be more affordable if there was additional competition. At $80 price-point it should include a small light (and/or sound) strobe that triggers for locating people in the dark. Gas cylinder refills are incredibly cheap and available everywhere. Makes a lot of sense to keep these around for open-water group swimming adventures, with swimmers of mixed strength.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#53

Post by chasd00 »

seems like it wouldn't be that hard to have a lifeguard spot someone with a laser and then a drone drop a life jacket on that spot. They could just use the laser until the drone has the coordinates of the reflection and then start swimming while the drone flys ahead and drops a life jacket at least somewhat close.

if that doesn't pan out then pivot and sell the tech to the military replacing life jacket with a grenade of some sort.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#54

Post by vel0city »

ben7799 wrote: post #24

If it's $12k and requires an operator this seems more of a band-aid than anything. Where are the operators going to come from? And for a lot of places the operator + device probably pays for 3 lifeguards or swim instructors. Nothing is going to get better until we start trying to get out of the hole and improve the average person's ability to swim and make decisions in open water. I used to be a lifeguard and swim in…

Using the term "robot", which gives the impression of some kind of automation here, is the disconnect here I think. In the end the operator is probably just using a remote from the beach side.

Looking at the actual demonstration of it, it makes some sense to me. Maybe not not at $12k plus some kind of support contract with it, but it makes some sense.

A couple of things to think about:

One big part about trying to save someone in the water, especially water where you can't stand in, is "throw, don't go". That person out there will likely pull you under and drown you, even if they don't mean to. This makes it so the thing you "throw" has a hell of a lot more range.

That thing ripped through the water pretty quick to get to the person drowning. A lifeguard wouldn't be that fast to get out there. Having them quickly ready to toss in and have a lifeguard in a tower with good visibility get out there to a swimmer that just needs a stable float and help coming back in. Getting to a person struggling in the water before they go under is very important especially in water that isn't very clear.

With how fast it was going, I bet it would also do well to help pull someone in that's struggling to fight a current, something a lifeguard would also have a hard time (sometimes nearly impossible) doing.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#55

Post by dylan604 »

abfan1127 wrote: post #45
throwup238 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of you may drown, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make!

I know its tongue in cheek, but in practical terms, there is negative consequences for pushing the zero drownings. To achieve zero drownings, we have to have zero risk. the only way for zero risk is to eliminate it (i.e. ban swimming). However, banning swimming has many unintended consequences (swimming is great exercise, swimming during boat use is important during collisions). At some point, we will encounter water…

Tool's Ænema is now playing in my head.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#56

Post by jpollock »

Apocryphon wrote: post #47
abfan1127 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know its tongue in cheek, but in practical terms, there is negative consequences for pushing the zero drownings. To achieve zero drownings, we have to have zero risk. the only way for zero risk is to eliminate it (i.e. ban swimming). However, banning swimming has many unintended consequences (swimming is great exercise, swimming during boat use is important during collisions). At some point, we will encounter water…

People can swim in bodies of water without fierce currents.

People drown in swimming pools all the time.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#57

Post by Projectiboga »

Apocryphon wrote: post #48
quasse wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My alma matter (which is directly on a lake) has been gradually banning all unsupervised swimming for students because someone gets blackout drunk and drowns themself in the lake every year. I think it's a tragedy; I spent a lot of my formative time enjoying the lake and the outdoors (not to mention it being one of the few healthy ways to escape the stress of engineering school). The school is also gradually eroding…

There's a highly dubious serial killer theory that exists simply because so many young college men drown while drunk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley_face_murder_theory

I heard a stat once that most adult male drowning victims had their fly down. This points to someone very drunk trying to pee into a body of water at night. One should always pee away from open water. I recall the suggested distance 100 feet for pee and more for number two.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#58

Post by bongodongobob »

throwup238 wrote: post #41
whalesalad wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we just need to be ok with the fact that people will die. Trying to attain a zero incident or zero death policy is completly unrealistic.

Some of you may drown, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make!

In ALL of the great lakes, 45 people drowned last year. I have no idea what the drownings near shore was, but I mean, millions of people live on the borders of the Great lakes. 45 is pretty damn good and I think resources are better spent on other things.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#59

Post by RobotToaster »

marcellus23 wrote: post #4

This isn't really a robot, more of just a remote-controlled boat. Still cool and a great idea for helping people who are drowning, of course. But seems misleading to call it a "robot", which (to me at least) implies some level of autonomy and more tech than you'd find in toy RC cars from 30 years ago.

Yeah, if you look at the photos it's just just an RC boat with some stuff strapped to the top.

Re: Robots on Lake Michigan beaches to prevent drownings

#60

Post by Anon84 »

jpollock wrote: post #56
Apocryphon wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People can swim in bodies of water without fierce currents.

People drown in swimming pools all the time.

People drown in bathtubs all the time...

There are only two obvious ways to minimize risk: teach people to swim or prevent people from swimming. Guess which one is more cost-effective?

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