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Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

wired.com

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Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#21

Post by w4 »

dmritard96 wrote: post #6

There are a lot of people talking about sea sickness but the reality is that sea sickness is usually a bigger problem standing still rather than moving. I could see some applications for bay usage, I would be pretty scared in the open ocean.

> I could see some applications for bay usage, I would be pretty scared in the open ocean.

I had exactly the same reaction: how sea-worthy is this going to be in something bigger than small chop? I'm not sure I'd trust the design for that serious offshore work, though for a pleasure craft it looks aces.

Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#22

Post by pontifier »

wiwiw wrote: post #3

The inventor, David Hall, is an interesting guy. He started off making subwoofers and among other things he invented the 3D Lidar system used by the winners (and second place) of the DARPA Urban Challenge. Also used in the Google self driving car.

I met him at the first DARPA challenge. Before he did the Lidar thing he had an interesting realtime stereo vision system powered by DSPs. I'd say he's a modern day Edison in his tenacity when it comes to solving problems.

Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#23

Post by johnloeber »

Pretty cool. When I saw the headline, I expected a boat hull filled with some sort of lubricant and another hull inside, containing the "actual boat," such that the "actual boat" would always be level. In terms of form, this would be similar to a Double Boiler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bain-marie). I always assumed that this would be how to stabilize objects like this. It's interesting to see it done in a different way. I wouldn't have imagined such a design. With the lifted body and the long legs, it vaguely reminds me of a waterbug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerridae).

Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#25

Post by ak217 »

wiwiw wrote: post #3

The inventor, David Hall, is an interesting guy. He started off making subwoofers and among other things he invented the 3D Lidar system used by the winners (and second place) of the DARPA Urban Challenge. Also used in the Google self driving car.

Wow. I never realized Velodyne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velodyne_Inc.) was a family-owned, 90-employee operation. Somehow I assumed the world's most sophisticated lidar maker would be a bigger company.

Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#26

Post by superuser2 »

mataug wrote: post #24

Finally someone put a suspension system into a boat. This has been a long requested feature and it ~100,000 years for someone it implement this. Boats have been around since prehistoric times ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-rolling_gyro

Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#27

Post by rasz_pl »

pontifier wrote: post #22
wiwiw wrote: post #3

The inventor, David Hall, is an interesting guy. He started off making subwoofers and among other things he invented the 3D Lidar system used by the winners (and second place) of the DARPA Urban Challenge. Also used in the Google self driving car.

I met him at the first DARPA challenge. Before he did the Lidar thing he had an interesting realtime stereo vision system powered by DSPs. I'd say he's a modern day Edison in his tenacity when it comes to solving problems.

Edison? you mean he has a team of engineers that invent stuff for him? and all he does is slap his name on their creations?

Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#28

Post by anovio »

johnloeber wrote: post #23

Pretty cool. When I saw the headline, I expected a boat hull filled with some sort of lubricant and another hull inside, containing the "actual boat," such that the "actual boat" would always be level. In terms of form, this would be similar to a Double Boiler ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bain-marie ). I always assumed that this would be how to stabilize objects like this. It's interesting to see it done in a diffe…

Gyroscope stabilized boats exist. "Seakeeper is the world leader in active stabilization for the marine industry Now available for boats 30’ and above." $30k for their smallest unit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNJ88mBusbE

Re: Self-Stabilizing Boat’s Deck Is Always Flat, Even in Rough Waters

#29

Post by anovio »

dmritard96 wrote: post #6

There are a lot of people talking about sea sickness but the reality is that sea sickness is usually a bigger problem standing still rather than moving. I could see some applications for bay usage, I would be pretty scared in the open ocean.

It depends if you're trying to maximize top speed. For racing applications, the hull's re-entry (whether nose first or transom first) greatly affects running speed. For catamarans and v-bottom boats alike, a flat water re-entry is the fastest.
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