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Makani source code released

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Re: Makani source code released

#61

Post by tobinfricke »

person_of_color wrote: post #49
tobinfricke wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many found new positions in Alphabet/X, and others found new positions at outside companies. Yet others still are either taking a break or still looking.

And you?

I had the privilege of being part of the documentation team preparing some of the materials that were released yesterday (in particular: the code and the chapter on the autopilot/control system). Now I'm taking a little break but I hope to start something new around January. Definitely open to ideas. :-)

Re: Makani source code released

#62

Post by nikodunk »

DetroitThrow wrote: post #44
bruckie wrote: post #5

There's also (quite surprisingly!) a feature-length film that talks about Makani's work over the last 13 years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd_hEja6bzE

Beautiful documentary, thanks for sharing.

Amazing stuff. Just made my Saturday night.

Re: Makani source code released

#63

Post by tobinfricke »

season2episode3 wrote: post #60
elromulous wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The usual disclaimer: these views are my own, and do not represent Makani, abc, etc. I was terribly disappointed the project was shutdown. The engineering problems were unique and challenging. And the team was absolutely world class. I felt like we could do it. And I wish we were still at it. But that's purely from the technical side. I wasn't involved in things like budget, and whether it would be economically viabl…

I never knew about this project. It would have been my dream job.

It was a dream job! Not sure what to do next.

Re: Makani source code released

#64

Post by tobinfricke »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #3

It's cool that they open sourced this, but as someone who worked at a kite power company (a much smaller company with a much smaller kite) I'm not sure much here will be transferable to other companies. Makani was making a huge 2000 lb "kite" turbine. That requires the kind of money that Google could back them with - and since Google isn't funding this anymore I just don't see where this can go as none of the remaini…

While our code might be too specialized to help out other crosswind kite power companies in particular, I think the technical document might be quite impactful:

https://storage.googleapis.com/x-prod.appspot.com/files/Maka...

The chapter "Airborne Wind Turbine Performance" contains some sobering lessons for the field and deserves a close read.

Re: Makani source code released

#65

Post by tobinfricke »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #51

I ran the code and took some screenshots of the really nice web UI. Simple and inspiring since I've been working on a robot web UI recently. Here's some screenshots of the Makani interface: https://imgur.com/gallery/NMjBJSY

Awesome! You might be the first outside of Makani to run the code. :-) I'm glad you were able to get it up and running. Please let us know if you have any questions or run into any trouble.

Re: Makani source code released

#68

Post by tobinfricke »

someonehere wrote: post #52

All of their assets were liquidated in their Alameda location. I bought some power tools from the auction went to pick it up and saw this really long wing span in a hangar. I asked the people with the liquidators what it was and they told me it was used for power. Then I remembered reading about this company in Wired many years ago and felt it would be something cool. Well I own some power tools they used to use so t…

I heard that one of our wings (SN1) will be incorporated into a playground somewhere on the Big Island of Hawaii (where someone bought it at auction). It would be fun to hear what comes of our other stuff.

Re: Makani source code released

#69

Post by one2know »

msoad wrote: post #8

Why this failed? I would love to learn more if anyone has more insider knowledge

Not an insider but isn't it obvious? Too expensive and it can only crash once. Regular wind turbines are probably cheaper and failsafe. Should have pivoted but it is a make it work at all costs kind of vanity project. Once you go big pivoting is not an option. Investors don't want to hear that. They just want a delivery date.

I was on one of these multi-billion boondoggle projects. Basically people keep it going even though it is not viable. Telltale sign is the project is spun off or 'cut loose' to die.

The product can be totally amazing though and parts of it could be a viable company on its own. Maybe these projects should be structured in a way that each component is a business entity.

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