Sailing Robots To Attempt Atlantic Crossing 122
Roland Piquepaille writes "The Times of London reports that seven robotic craft will compete in a race across the Atlantic Ocean in October 2008. One of them, 'Pinta the robot sailing boat,' has been designed at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Pinta is expected to sail for three months at a maximum speed of four knots (about 7.4 kph). Its designers hope the Pinta will become the first robot to cross an ocean using only wind power. This 150-kilogram sailing robot costs only $4,900. The transatlantic race will start between September 29 and October 5, 2008 from Portugal. The winner will be the first boat to reach a finishing line between the northern tip of St. Lucia and the southern tip of Martinique in the Caribbean. Here are additional details and links."
Re:how about something a bit simpler (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm no expert on robotics, but surely building a house is surely far harder than crossing the Atlantic for a robot?
Building a house requires all sorts of considerations about the land beneath it and requires a number of different skills.
Crossing the Atlantic requires going in a straight line for as long as possible.
Re:how about something a bit simpler (Score:4, Insightful)
So if the defense department or the military will sponsor this, then its most likely to be something of use to them.
I think you should complain to construction or realestate companies,for not putting money into robotics.
The good part is that these things advance the state of robotics and will make a house building robot a little bit easier to design.
Re:Natives are done for (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:how about something a bit simpler (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, I do see robotic ocean crossing as something useful and productive, but in addition, bear in mind that it is often the component parts that make real advancements in challenges like this. Power technology, navigation technology etc. Often the actual goal is secondary.
Re:It's a bit small! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's a bit small! (Score:2, Insightful)
A boat that size usually depends upon the weight of its crew to keep it balanced. Similarly, unless it's got an absolutely immense keel, it can easily tip over into the water.
In the event that the boat completely inverts itself, which is fairly likely because the weight of the sails and mast often account for a considerable portion of the weight of the craft, it could become virtually impossible for the boat to "right itself". Also remember that the sails generate a good deal of underwater "resistance" that make it even more difficult to right the boat.
Re:Call me even more pedantic if you like, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:how about something a bit simpler (Score:2, Insightful)
I think only somebody who has spent a fair amount of time at the helm of a sailboat can truly appreciate just how complicated this is.
Winds vary to a great extent ... waves knock your bow from side-to-side (especially in a small craft, which this apparently is) ... currents can take you miles off course. The first two conditions can frequently require extremely quick and accurate responses to avoid capsizing - not so much w/ the currents of course.
Having an unmanned craft sail from Portugal to the Caribbean is more complicated than landing an unmanned craft on Mars. Once you leave the Earth's atmosphere, it's pretty much smooth sailing the whole way.
Re:how about something a bit simpler (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, since you have ideas for better robots, why don't you get off your ass and build one yourself?
Seriously, this "meh, I could've done better" post is very typical, yet very arrogant.
Re:It's a bit small! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not as difficult as the DARPA Grand Nationals? (Score:3, Insightful)
Tacking is actually two-fluid sailing, which implies that you need a sail in both fluids (and, obviously, a velocity difference between them also). Of course, with the density of water, the wet-sail doesn't need to be nearly as large as the air-sail, and with small enough boats, the hull itself acts as a fairly inefficient keel.
You do need to be able to rotate the sails, but square-rigged vessels are perfectly capable of this, albeit not necessarily to the degree that a Bermuda-rigged sloop would be able to.
Sailing (Score:3, Insightful)
One of the aspects I love about sailing, is the challenge of dealing with dozens of inputs (wind direction, wind speed, boat heel, current, etc.) and controls. Most people don't realize the level of detail with which one can adjust a sail. While airplanes are stuck with a fixed aerofoil, sails can be adjusted by stretching the front (luff), the back (leach), the bottom (the foot). You control these three sides with the halliard (raises the sail), downhaul (pulls down on the sail, easier to tighten the luff after the sail has been raised), outhaul (tightens the foot), leech line (tightens the leech/back of the sail), boom vang (pulls down on the bottom of the sail). With these, you can set the depth and shape of the sail to accommodate the current wind. (Heavier winds work better with flatter sails, lighter winds, with a bit fuller sails.) And of course you have to keep the proper angle of the sail with the wind by using the mainsheet, traveller, vang.
It really is a thing of beauty to get a sail working properly; then you combine that with a foresail (jib) that helps the flow over the set of sails. (There are often bits of yarn, ticklers, that help you see the flow over the sails, and see if it's laminar or turbulent.)
All that being said, pretty much every one of these many factors could be measured, analyzed, and appropriately adjusted by a computer and associated sensing/control hardware. And in some ways, seeing a system manage all those factors so accurately and elegantly is a bit of art in itself.
And there very few dangerous situations (wind coming around behind to flip the sail over in a crash jibe) that the computer and sensors could spot and deal with before they become a problem.
The main thing the computer lacks is the ability to appreciate the water rushing by the hull, the seabirds, the seals, the beauty.
It is still a worthwhile endeavor. Plus, the technology from such projects could filter down into products for sailors, who might be unable or unwilling to deal with a lot of the details. A lot of cruising sailors would love to have their sails trimmed properly by a computer. More power to them. It's not for me, I want to tweak every bit of the boat myself, for the joy of it; but if someone (including myself at times) wants to kick back and relax, while still having the boat perform, sure, let the computers do some work.