Saw this on the SurferMag BB. Can’t help to wonder how this tech could eventually be applied to surfboard design in the not so distant future.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8tfES8gImc]
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twIuyBjfs9s]
[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vT-oidWyXE]
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_citFkSNtk]
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPGgl5VH5go]
Neat stuff, can’t imagine though,
how to get a fin to articulate to that degree,
for the flow to remain attached at the water/air/foam interface,
but still awful cool.
kind of like the robotuna. Also
Can’t help it:
But does that penguin look fat?
fat penguin?
(maniacal laughter)
Pete
[quote="$1"]
Saw this on the SurferMag BB. Can't help to wonder how this tech could eventually be applied to surfboard design in the not so distant future.
Hmmmmm- very cool stuff. And some of the technology could very likely be taken to, say, a 'smart board' that could have things like variable flex and/or rocker or bottom contour.
Unfortunately, while the tech to do that, and the sensors that you'd want to drive it, those are off the shelf hardware, the software would be ...interesting.... and I dunno if there's the kind of money out there in the industry to develop it. And the people who can write that stuff are paid very well...
doc....
The thing that I found intresting wasn’t so much the fins flapping on the penguins to propell them, as how their torsos flexed to steer them.
True, the tech does seem too expensive at this time for any surfboard applications. But technology’s pace keeps speeding at exponential rates.
The chip in my cell phone is more powerful than the computers that ran the first space shuttles.
As Greg L. just recently states and so many others have
stated on this board, we are making hulls that ride on the
water, rather than in it as these devices do.
That being said, as a marine biologist, I am drooling at the
prospect of using one of these (ray or penguin) with a body
cam and doing some non-invasive research. I know a couple of
hundred scientists that will feel the same once they see these!!
Also, just imagine what Taylor Steele could do with a dorsal
mounted cam!!! Wonder what Pehi looks like from the bottom looking
up? LOL I really appreciate fine engineering!
I can’t shake the imagine of me sitting out in the lineup and having a penguin with blue eyes poping up next to me. creepy…
Sky's the limit now, and I'm sooooo far behind...
Sheesh...I guess I'll just go surfing.
Though, you are right Atom...the tech would filter down to the likes of you and me eventually...
Josh