Joanne Masters- Corp Communications for Liquid Robotics:
The founder of the Wave Glider, Joe Rizzi, liked humpback whales. He wanted to record the whale's songs, sacred in the hawaiian culture. He needed a system that could stay on the water for long periods of time, and not
leave a footprint (fin print?)
He asked his friend Derek Hine, and his son Roger, to
figure this out.
It has no fuel, looks like a surfboard, with an
umbilical cord down to the "wing rack", where the up and down motion of the waves are converted into forward motion.
The wing rack is purely mechanical. On the surface of the water, the wave glider has
3 solar panels which power the onboard sensors and computing. The chief software
architect is the inventor of Java, Dr. James Gosling. Solar also
powers the communications. It can be out at sea for a year at a time, only needs to
come in occasionally for cleaning. The Wave Glider is very cost effective when
monitoring for smugglers, seismic activity, control fleets, looking for oil
leaks and submarine detection, to name a few.
Me: Any other market segments?
Joanne: Defense, Oil and Gas, Environmental Monitoring. We
worked the BP spill in the Gulf. Have a partnership with Slumberger where we are performing
seismic survey for oil exploration. It can also detect signatures of submarines, vessels, etc. and can relay this information to an airborne UAV. This coordination can greatly decrease cost compared to a completely manned mission.
Me: How does it navigate, how is it's course plotted?
Joanne: It has a sophisticated nav system. It is
autonomous, with only a rudder on the rear. An app can be downloaded when the
mission changes. Because it is wave powered, it loves bad weather. It is not
fast, has been thru 17 hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons.
Me: It sounds like it flourishes in the bad weather.
Joanne: We did a job at Loch Ness, in climatology, not
mammal detection (or lizard). It is good at predicting storms, where heat
exchange takes place on the ocean surface to monitor and predict the development of storms. It can
also monitor fish population with acoustics.
Me: Are you hiring?
Joanne: Look on our website, a diversity of careers. Go to liquidrobotics.com/careers
Comments from the Author: This was by far my favorite "Non-Flying" vehicle at the show, I love the fact that it harnesses energy from the Ocean Waves and the Sun and is non-polluting...James Schmid
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| Joanne Masters Public Relations Liquid Robotics |
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