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Dolphin Inspired Mini-sub
What do you get the millionaire in your life who has everything? How about the Seabreacher mini-sub. Described as a dolphin-inspired cross between a jet ski and a submarine, the Seabreacher has a top speed of 45mph above the waves and 20mph below them. The two-man £30,000 craft is 15' long and its design makes it self-righting. Strangely, this doesn't come with a laser package.
The words: "Ouch, my spine." come to mind, though the follow up of "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt any more" are probably more worrying.
I'm gonna need a spec.
I thought dolphins came with explosive charges?
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
I'm waiting for the budget 'sea bass' version to come out. I think £30,000 is a bit steep for me.
It might have had a lasers package if it's design was inspired by a shark...
Seems odd that they don't use an electric motor to avoid the problem of having to get air into the engine.
That looks like fun...
You are beginning to accept that idle is here to stay
What would happen to this submarine went underwater for too long, resulting in a lack of oxygen to the engine? As you no longer have any power, you can't empty water from the snorkel, preventing the engine from being restarted. I would hope that it floats on top of the water by default (instead of sinking) and therefore the occupant can escape via the top hatch quite easily. The problem would just be getting the thing back to shore to empty the snorkel and possibly drain water from the cabin as necessary?
How exciting...
Much closer to a jet ski than to a sub... Another expensive and useless toy.
Those guys supposedly make proper mini subs (or real ones, although apparently nobody has taken them up on it).
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
So the snorkel provides air for the engine... what about the two people in the seats? Ahh... engine exhaust has some oxygen in it right?
What do you get the millionaire in your life who has everything?
Nothing like this. They would play with it a couple of times and then, I don't know.
It just so happens I have a couple of millionaires (self made) in my family. They're not into these very expensive luxury toys. They don't spend money on shit - especially over priced shit: cars, boats, Rolex Watches , etc...
One of them is really into bicycling and he does buy high quality equipment - used.
The other, she does spurge on here horses, but she actually competes in her retirement.
These types of toys are for the high salaried folks who still end up living paycheck to paycheck because they're spending all of their money on crap like this (doctors, lawyers, corporate business execs, star athletes etc...). "The Millionaire Next Door" explains much better. And yeah, those family members of mine, at lest one, are right out of that book.
As if we didn't have enough problems in this world without the idle rich finding new and innovative ways to waste time and money. Here's the only question that should matter: at the end of your life are you going to wish you spent more time riding in a dolphin? I doubt it.
reminds me of seaquest!
Air is provided for the engine through a snorkel... and what about air for the people up front? Ahhh... exhaust gasses might work...
Oh please oh please oh please... I promise I will clean my room and go to bed on time every day!
How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
Fun toy, with lots of power (Must be great for racing with real dolphins :-)
More details:
http://innespace.com/current%20projects.html
http://www.seabreacher.com/ (With movie...)
Not much of a sub, it sounds like. TFA doesn't mention anything about how deep it can go.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Millionaire? This thing cost less than most modern Bass boats, decently equipped pontoons, and less than half what a common cruiser will run you. More than your average Seadoo PWC, but most people who buy them get at least two if not three or four (depending on wealth and the number of kids they have).
Then again, perhaps the millionaire aspect comes into play when it comes time to find someone to repair the craft, as anyone who spends a few hours on the water every week will tell you, anything boat/pwc related has a tendency to demonstrate it's willingness to break down in the worst possible ways at the worst possible times. It's almost as powerful enough of a force, I am beginning to suspect Murphy has a whole set of laws being enforced upon anyone who takes up marine recreation. Anyway, even the millionaires I've met who are into marine craft already know all this and still try to shop for designs which have been around for a few years and closer to the "proven technology" badge instead of pissing away money on completely new designs bound to have many flaws-- that's why they are millionaires and not scratching lottery tickets.
I'd also not really want to run that thing in most US waterways. More than once, I've cracked gel coats on thick fiberglass hulls ramming into surface debris at speeds below 50mph. The last thing I would want is to be sitting behind some plastic windshield and have a pointy chunk of tree collide with it at any speed. Not to mention the stump mazes just a few feet under many managed waterways. It'd be cool in some place like the Bahamas, though.
Tintin had this decades ago! ;) :)
http://www.sur-la-toile.com/images/articles/ben_1113361162.jpg
Once again Herge was visionary
...on a waverunner.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
The model is just a copy of Herge's Tintin Adventures comic book series...
Looking at the image, immediately reminded me of an episode of SeaQuest. I think it was called the "Stinger."
Sure its for recreation but you could travel in it and you wouldn't get as wet as a jetski which seem to be pretty popular even though they're little more than a leisure vehicle. And unless that mini sub can do 20mph under the water (year right) it won't anything like as much of a buzz as this machine.
"Here's the only question that should matter: at the end of your life are you going to wish you spent more time riding in a dolphin? "
That's a fetish I haven't tried.
Go find out what russian oligarchs spend their money on.
It just so happens I have a couple of millionaires (self made) in my family. They're not into these very expensive luxury toys. They don't spend money on shit - especially over priced shit: cars, boats, Rolex Watches , etc...
They sound like a boring family. I picture them sitting around (when they're not busy not buying anything fun), engaging each other in a game of "who can be the most curmudgeonly?".
I bet you beat those millionaires out every time at that game.
At least I could install the frickin' laser myself.
Task Mangler
The SEALs are always looking for new ways of infiltrating by sea. I wonder if a suped up version of this wouldn't be able to make a fast approach but also mimic the motion of a dolphin (or whale) enough to throw off a countries' various defenses. A two-person sub should be able to carry one SEAL and his gear, without having to worry about the freezing water temp, dive weights, oxygen tanks, etc. And, of course, they would have to mount fricken lasers.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
My boring mate thinks this is a dull-fing...he can't see any porpoise to it at all!
Smivs on the intertubes!
It was "sharks with friking laser beams attached to their heads"...
This was my first thought : http://blogues.cyberpresse.ca/technaute/dumais/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/illustration2007071204.jpg
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
So what's so new and revolutionary about this? The Wesley (Lucas Wolenczak) on seaQuest DSV made one just like this. Old news....
Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.
This has been seen on Discovery channel repeats for at least two years. Still cool though.
Maybe this will show up in the next James Bond movie?
So long and thanks for all the fish...
Dr. Evil: You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here! What do we have? Number Two: Sea Bass. Dr. Evil: [pause] Right. Number Two: They're mutated sea bass. Dr. Evil: Are they ill tempered? Number Two: Absolutely. Dr. Evil: Oh well, that's a start.
Go go Gadget Nailgun!
This reminds me of the show SeaQuest on SciFi. The only thing that's really different is that the mini-subs they had were much faster and the initial ones were single seaters. It's closer to the one that they competition to Lucas has than the one he was making however.
I signed up... can I please have a method for turning off entire sections of Slashdot.
The Seabreacher has a top speed of 39.1 knots above the waves and 17.4 knots below them. There fixed that for ya.
I've been reading about these guys for ten years now and they've been working on it and promoting it a hell of a lot longer than that. As zaporware goes this thing has Duke Nuke Em Forever beat all to hell. They've had a bunch of working prototypes but never quite seem to release a commercial one. A little like Moller. It sounds impressive but they don't appear to have the resources to actually turn it into a commercial product. They're really good at getting press and keeping the name out there but I doubt you'll be seeing them for sale any time soon.
Because we can all think of how to spend a million, but the rich ones only think of how to make a million.
But can you make a Beowulf cluster?
I saw this thing in a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog like 10 years ago! Surely there is more impressive tech to cover, even in Idle, than this.
PM
We're gonna need a bigger dolphin.
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
rj
This is so old the dolphin has died of arthritis: http://fast-world.com/index.php/Interesting/Dolphin-Submarine.html
Why not show a few newer pictures: http://www.bionicdolphin.com/cms/
http://www.gizmag.com/go/4095/
Jeez, compared to the news this part of Slashdot is even more outrageous.
Apparently you missed the "45 MPH", which is faster than an average speedboat can go.
You must not know jack about boats. The average "speedboat" can go MUCH faster than 45 mph.
My boat is not a speedboat, not even close to being one. It's a lowly Glastron 17' with very small underpowered 125hp 4 cylinder engine, and appropriately classified as a "family runabout". It's cruise speed in smooth water is 44MPH which is typical of boast in its category. My friend's Baja is a true speedboat and will easily go over 75 mph, and has twin V-8 engines.
This was actually on an episode of Modern Marvels (or similiar) quite a while back (some multi-subject episode). Very interesting to see how it worked (a lot like a jet ski) and how it handled.
from reading comic books growing up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Spirou_et_les_hommes-bulles.jpg
I remember seeing this on "Real People" or "60 Minutes" or some similar show in the 1980's or 1990's. Along with the story that a guy from the mid-east wanted to buy the prototype for six figures cash in a briefcase. They didn't sell for fear it would be used for terrorism.
Think Deeply.
Bullshit
How come in the photo there are no ripples from where it has breached?
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Tintin_cover_-_Red_Rackham's_Treasure.jpg
...it also lacks opposable thumbs.
My other sig is extremely clever...
You're joking, right? How many 200HP (150KW) electric motors are there that could fit in such a machine? How many battery packs could power such motors? How much would these battery packs weigh? How long would the charge on these battery packs last?
The fact is that no other available power plant but a two stroke gasoline engine and 5 gallons of gas could provide that much power and that endurance for such little weight and volume.
There's also the issue of getting air to the operator though, granted it is more easily solved.
From the SeaQuest episode: Stinger
I guess maybe that show did make a single contribution to mankind........
Nah...
For the Discovery Channel clip on the episode they did on August of last year on this Dolphin sub.
http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/daily-planet/august-2007/daily-planet-aug-15-2007/#clip7714
Old news here it would seem.
I remember something like this shown on "Beyond 2000", back in the late 1990s.
What about "Stinger" or "Gazelle"?
If you look at the photo closely I think you can see the couple in the craft actually making out.
Just keep an eye out for tuna fishing nets or six-pack rings.
Dolphins can use the same ploy against *US*!
Be wary, and think twice about the strangers you see, for a dolphin can be "surfing" on land with its new man-mobile.
Yes, dolphins, too, have an upper class who indulges on this kind of thing.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/6542/
This is news?
It's novel, but it's not new.
My other sig is a Porsche!
Assuming he doesn't secretly build a PVC and duct tape weaponized exosuit and escape, kicking your ass in the process.
And in case you think it can't be done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1f4zrYzDz8
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Nope; they're armed with hollow needles and CO2 bottles, and with toxic dart guns.
Rumors have persisted since the mid-seventies that the U.S. Navy used dolphins to kill enemy divers during the Vietnam war. Allegedly, when an approaching diver was detected by a patrolling dolphin, it would swim back to an equipment barge where it would arm itself with a large hollow needle and compressed CO2 bottle, both integrated into a cup which fitted snugly over the dolphin's beak. Then it would simply impale the unfortunate bastard in the torso and watch him float to the surface with his stomach hanging out of his mouth. Apparently, someone got the idea from the CO2 harpoons divers used to protect themselves from sharks.
Supposedly the project was shelved because the age-old military problem of IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) was insurmountable. Simply put, the dolphins were unable to distinguish between friendly and enemy divers and killed a number of U.S. Navy personnel.
The modern spin on this is the allegation that these dolphins are now controlled with "electrodes planted under the skin" and are armed with anaesthetic dartguns, the idea being to capture the enemy alive for interrogation. It was even reported that the Navy lost some of these dolphins from a training facility near Lake Pontchartrain during Hurricane Katrina.
I wonder how this cute little sub fares against the Orca, Great White, and Giant Squid mini-subs?
This device is about 3-4 years old maybe more . I remember seeing this on tv a while back i dont understand why its in slashdot.
I believe they took the idea from Sea Quest.
...otherwise it would sink to the bottom and stay there.
until an actual dolphin tries to mate with you. Then you'll just have to break it's poor heart.
If it floats, fucks, or flies, rent don't buy. My guess this thing does all three depending on at what angle the first unsuspecting swimmer is struck by it.
... before some rich joker decides to have a look at the underside of a USN Carrier Battle Group - and gets depth-charged?
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
Must be realy great to smack a crack into the lid as you surface into an outstanding leap from the water as would any dolphin, but with less the survey-abilities of eccolocation you'll land top-most into a floating bit of solid debris. Even better, is this thing probably compensates its slightly positive buoyancy to a bilge chamber or two. Just we wait until the proper testing comes in, when someone dives into the deep with a defective depth gauge and lost their positive buoyancy. Say about 180 feet into the blue the dome will crack and these people wouldn't need to worry about their air. These mutants will adapts, and lead our mole Howser right to Quatto, and our mole will kill the Underground Resistance. Copen-Hagen will be the victorious Mayor known to end the war, and he'll make a bundle selling these people their air. F*cking magnificent idea, and you get to f*ck his wife every night!
I've been lookin at it for such a long time and can't figure it out. I don't see any porpoise in the subject topic. Maybe the dolphins chased them all away? What's that little thing to the right of the subject you wrote? Is that...is that suposed to mean it is Funny by whose standard of being funny? Was given a score of 5 marks for Funny?
Shutup.
Notice that today, a millionaire just means you move from the job that made you a millionaire to a job that was more antiquated? I see many people with a million or two go back to cattle ranching, and spend money on the matter after the fact that all the strains of cattle have all been GMO'd and cross-bread away from their disease immunity-resilient original breeds. Some go to rocketry, where they are smacked-down by a jerk 2,000 miles away in FAA. Some try their hand at brewing wine or wiskey, and find the BATFE(ces) smacks more pain and anguish on them to break less than even. Some go into international motor and boat touring, but find that to be far too financylu depleting because they are still not sound and must hire someone else to handle their UCC liens or follow them around to heal their contracted diseases from porting in strange country. Some just give up; after working like a slave for 30 years through ever market condition that did more to re-adjust their money to be worth less the longer you hold on spendin it, they find they actually have no reason to live: they just sit down, can't find a reason to live, and die from a strane disease inducted from an immune system effected by depression.
The smarter ones gain control of a standing army; this so they can commit their slavery as above, and anyone that redresses them for grievances will either agree to vacate or disappear to another country.
Millionaires and the like are evidence of unjust weights and measures. Someone with a large amount of property is someone who redeemed their currency when compensated that moment. Ussury is a crime. Who is heir to a million dollars that did not earn it?
Wan't this concept on seaQuest back in 1994 or something?
What do you get the millionaire in your life who has everything?
Nothing like this. They would play with it a couple of times and then, I don't know.
It just so happens I have a couple of millionaires (self made) in my family. They're not into these very expensive luxury toys. They don't spend money on shit - especially over priced shit: cars, boats, Rolex Watches , etc...
One of them is really into bicycling and he does buy high quality equipment - used.
The other, she does spurge on here horses, but she actually competes in her retirement.
These types of toys are for the high salaried folks who still end up living paycheck to paycheck because they're spending all of their money on crap like this (doctors, lawyers, corporate business execs, star athletes etc...). "The Millionaire Next Door" explains much better. And yeah, those family members of mine, at lest one, are right out of that book.
Do you realize just how big an ass you sound like?
First, you remind us that millionaires can afford to buy expensive toys and not even use them. Then you fault sub-millionaires for buying pricey toys within their budgets. Then, horses are practical - if you compete?
Are you fucking serious? I think you intended to remind us that rich folk can be modest and practical too. You fail to realize how much pride the common man has for the very few nice things he might own. A name band set of tools might be the nicest thing some men ever own. Surely, to you it would just be a waste of money and the reason for the man's lack of wealth. Replace tool set with car,boat, plane, jewelry, etc...
These types of toys are for the high salaried folks who still end up living paycheck to paycheck because they're spending all of their money on crap like this
Right there... that's where you stepped over the line. My own father works for the Air National Guard, and has no other source of income. He built with his own time and money an experimental light sport aircraft that cost him a little more than what one of these boats cost. He is still living well within his means, and I cant even explain to you how happy he is flying that thing.
Calling something a useless toy because a rich man can afford to throw it away insults the poor man that saved up to buy it and take a LOT of pride in it. For damned sure, I can think of a few people in my life that would be just as, if not more proud of simply owning a Rolex watch than your family is of their horses. If I was a millionaire, you bet your ass I would buy nice stuff. I would also appreciate it in more ways than you're capable of knowing.
There's demo video at youtube. It looks to me like a cross between a jetski and a hydrofoil, with control surfaces. In either case, I'm sort of surprised the pilotes are not wearing beefy life preservers. Probably helmets would be a good idea as well. And I'm not keen on the idea of tooling around with the canopy open as seen in the video, because the low gunwales looks like an accidental swamping about to happen with an accidental twitch of the controls. If you can avoid baking in the greenhouse, it looks like fun. -dB
"It if was easy to do, we'd find someone cheaper than you to do it."
Check this one out. Definitely not as fast, but better for the environment: www.subhumanproject.com www.lunocet.com
An american company builds a watercraft designed by a californian and sold in the states via a quote from one of 2 sales reps with american numbers... Why is the price in franks?
Modding me -1 troll doesn't make me wrong.