SailDrone

[eastbound]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-15/this-man-is-building-an-armada-of-saildrones-to-conquer-the-ocean

moving super smart buoys

[Bean]

Terminator of the Seas...

[surfcowboy]

Great story man. It's also cool to see that guy go from living on $11,000 a year to getting tens of millions of dollars in funding and launching a giant company based on his weird skill set.

I love the idea and I'm stoked to see we're going to learn more about the oceans. Crazy what research ships cost.

[stoneaxe]

What cowboy said...very cool.

[eastbound]

made me think of poor pono--living in his car way back when!!

[eastbound]

could be there's a correlate there?--live in car==> SUCCEED!!??

in case pono feels like he has SUCCEEDed

if i am as mobile as he, and still doing fun sports, at his fair age, i will call that a success.....................

oh and i'd like my brain to still work too, thk you

[PonoBill]

Having been very poor gives a lot of advantages. One is simply gratitude, hugely valuable. Another is confidence--I don't need much to survive and even be very comfortable and happy. I still love beans and cornbread. Another is fundamental frugality. That might not be visible from the outside, but I'm a cheapskate. I get a lot for my money, generally. The biggest benefit is empathy. I don't "blame" people for being poor. When I see some homeless guy pushing a shopping cart I think "there but for some genetic differences and a lot of luck, go I".

I like the design of these drones. I had a similar idea some time ago, I still would like to build an autonomous boat, and sailing or some other form of wind power is obvious. There's a great deal of value in that kind of exploration, I'm not surprised he found funding. The only surprise is that he knew how to go about that. I suspect there's an angel there somewhere who put together the financial stuff. Either that or he's a lot more sophisticated than he seems.

[JEG]

this is the next big thing like faceplant & giggle 

[stoneaxe]

Funny you mentioned my bro....all I could think of when I saw this was it looks like something Bill would have built in the attic 60+ years ago...I think he used plywood and bondo though not carbon fiber....

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

What a great idea for research.

[SlatchJim]

We have a pretty large facility in Hayward.  I can say without question that a place that big in Alameda is not cheap by anyone's standard.  Very cool design (but I couldn't help cynically thinking that it's only a matter of time before they're weaponized).

[eastbound]

yep--wouldnt be remotely odd to consider it likely he got cia $$$$$

nefarious use of drones , any kind, is frightening

[stoneaxe]

DARPA....and guaranteed the hydrophones and other instruments on board will be listening/looking for more than just whale song and waves.

[Zooport]

Very impressive.  What is there to stop someone who happens upon one from stealing it? 

[stoneaxe]

Very impressive.  What is there to stop someone who happens upon one from stealing it?

I'm guessing lasers.....