Posted by Tomtom Express on September 14, 2009 at 4:39pm
I am talking to a Science Museum about constructing an unmanned boat to navigate a waterway. It would be a fun way to introduce this sort of automation to the public. As this waterway is surrounded by trendy shops, bars, restaurants and condos, we are also thinking of doing advertising using LED and/or LCD displays to promote the science center. At night, there is very little traffic. The little traffic there is is from one or two ferries. For navigation, I am thinking of a GPS, of course, and ultrasonic range finders to avoid collisions. Any comments are welcomed. Thank you!
This is a rough drawing of what I envision an autonomous advertising platform would look like. It would only go out at night, so it is black. There would be a vertical lattice in which to hang art work / advertisements. I was thinking that having a tug to pull several of these non-powered units, but control would be difficult during high winds, so each unit will need to be self powered and controlled.
You probably have saved us quite a bit of time, money and effort. We are not looking to operate at high speeds, but we need to deal with wind and currents effectively. Thank you very much.
Our experience is that you need quite powerful motors to fight wind and current. Commerical electric motors tend to top out with trolling motors, which often aren't big enough. The guys here in the SF bay built custom electric outboards...
It is the Singapore River: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_river Thanks for the comments. Wind would be the most challenging factor as it changes in direction and strength.
Comments
how big would the boat be?