Mathematical Robotic Skimmer Craft Challenge - Launching From The Swash Zone Into The Surf
Have you ever watched someone play with one of those remote-controlled boats? There are some which are extremely fast upon the water, miniature speedboats.
This is because they are flat bottom, and have very big motors, and very lightweight frames.
Perhaps you've also seen those "skimmer boards" that people will throw down on the beach in the swash zone, jump on top, and then hydroplane across the water.
In case you didn't know it; the swash zone is that area where the water races up the beach, only to recede once again until the next wave pushes the water back up again.
It's also the area where you can walk and only get your feet wet, as there are no big waves to knock you over.
If you like to play with robotics, it seems that we should be building robotic skimmer craft which can combine these two types of toys.
That is to say the skimmer boards, and the remote-controlled boats.
It seems to me we can also build a vision system using optical flow sensors so that once you launch this robotic skimmer craft it will look to see where the waves are breaking, and then wait until there is a place it can get through very quickly, and then travel at an extremely rapid rate of speed, turn latterly perhaps to avoid the next wave, and then accelerate forward once again until it reaches the open water.
All autonomously! This would be just like a surfer trying to get out to the area where the surfers wait for the big waves, without getting pummeled by one of the waves coming in.
Humans on surfboards can't move that fast to avoid every wave or ever time it perfectly every time, but a robotic skimmer craft certainly could.
Best of all, we know all the mathematical modeling for swash zone, breaker areas, and surf zones.
We even have computational mathematical modeling available which can tell us lulls, peaks and valleys between waves.
There is a rhythm to the ocean, and if we could get our robotic skimmer craft to count the waves, figure out the frequency, then it could perceive quite easily once a got the hang of it.
This would be a nice project for a grad student, or a hotshot mathematical high school whiz to figure out.
Are there any applications for this? Sure there are, how about a robotic lifeguard that could go out and deliver a flotation device to a drowning swimmer? Or a life jacket which inflates once it arrives at that drowning swimmer? How about a device which chases sharks away, confuses them, and protects a surfer, or some child out there with a boogie board? These are just some of the applications, but if we could figure this out, it would be of value to the future of the science.
Please consider all this and think on it.
This is because they are flat bottom, and have very big motors, and very lightweight frames.
Perhaps you've also seen those "skimmer boards" that people will throw down on the beach in the swash zone, jump on top, and then hydroplane across the water.
In case you didn't know it; the swash zone is that area where the water races up the beach, only to recede once again until the next wave pushes the water back up again.
It's also the area where you can walk and only get your feet wet, as there are no big waves to knock you over.
If you like to play with robotics, it seems that we should be building robotic skimmer craft which can combine these two types of toys.
That is to say the skimmer boards, and the remote-controlled boats.
It seems to me we can also build a vision system using optical flow sensors so that once you launch this robotic skimmer craft it will look to see where the waves are breaking, and then wait until there is a place it can get through very quickly, and then travel at an extremely rapid rate of speed, turn latterly perhaps to avoid the next wave, and then accelerate forward once again until it reaches the open water.
All autonomously! This would be just like a surfer trying to get out to the area where the surfers wait for the big waves, without getting pummeled by one of the waves coming in.
Humans on surfboards can't move that fast to avoid every wave or ever time it perfectly every time, but a robotic skimmer craft certainly could.
Best of all, we know all the mathematical modeling for swash zone, breaker areas, and surf zones.
We even have computational mathematical modeling available which can tell us lulls, peaks and valleys between waves.
There is a rhythm to the ocean, and if we could get our robotic skimmer craft to count the waves, figure out the frequency, then it could perceive quite easily once a got the hang of it.
This would be a nice project for a grad student, or a hotshot mathematical high school whiz to figure out.
Are there any applications for this? Sure there are, how about a robotic lifeguard that could go out and deliver a flotation device to a drowning swimmer? Or a life jacket which inflates once it arrives at that drowning swimmer? How about a device which chases sharks away, confuses them, and protects a surfer, or some child out there with a boogie board? These are just some of the applications, but if we could figure this out, it would be of value to the future of the science.
Please consider all this and think on it.