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Computer-Controlled Cargo Sailing Vessels Go Slow, Frugal
An anonymous reader writes "Big container ships are taking it very slow these days, cruising at 10 knots instead of their usual 26 knots, to save fuel. This is actually slower than sailing freighters traveled a hundred years ago. The 1902 German Preussen, the largest sailing ship ever built, traveled between Hamburg (Germany) and Iquique (Chile): the best average speed over a one way trip was 13.7 knots. Sailing boats need a large and costly crew, but they can also be controlled by computers. Automated sail handling was introduced already one century ago. In 2006 it was taken to the extreme by the Maltese Falcon, which can be operated by one man at the touch of a button. We have computer-controlled windmills, why not computer-controlled sailing cargo vessels?"
I'm sure the pirates would love to see computer controlled, slow moving ships. Unless you have robots/zombies guarding them? Or sharks with frickin lasers on their heads?
INAM (I'm Not A Miller) and I'm not up-to-date with the tech, but as far as I'm aware windmills can't plough into harbours destroying themselves and their cargo, potentially killing lots of people at the same time.
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Computer, if you don't open that exit hatch this moment, I shall go straight to your major data banks with a very large axe and give you a reprogramming you'll never forget. Is that clear?
Yeah... Let's send robot ships out there to travel to a port and then wonder WTF happened when it doesn't arrive... Did the scurvy pirates get it or did it drift off course or did it sink?
If only they could invent some type of Global Positioning System. I can see it now... you would need a couple dozen or so satellites to ensure coverage over the planet. They would broadcast some type of signal. Then all you would need is some type of devices to read the signal from two or three of these satellites to get a 2D or 3D positioning.
*runs off to patent office*
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that.
It also means the robot guards can just be programmed to kill anything that moves, without having to bother trying to protect a crew.
'Course, that might mean a massacre at the port if there's a problem shutting down the guards...
"Dear mister pirate. This ship is equipped with 'ROMG'. This stands for remote operatable machine guns. These are equipped with motion sensors and infra-red sensors. They thus will shoot on anything that either moves, or emits heat. I will activate these in 10... 9... 8..."
Manuals are your last resort only
Anti-pirate robot...I bet you could get some R&D funding from the RIAA...
Think of the surprise that the Somali pirates would get if they got on board and found no one.
Taking this one step further.
Imagine a group of Somali pirates boarding a cargo ship. They arrive on the bridge to discover it's empty. The doors to the bridge slam shut and lock behind them. The room fills with sevoflurane gas, rendering the pirates unconscious.
When the pirates regain consciousness, they find themselves in a holding cell. This holding cell is surrounded by other holding cells filled with other Somali pirates who fell for they same trap they did. This ship isn't a cargo ship at all. Its a trap designed to clean up the seas around Somalia.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Yeah, I but I want my Chinese crap NOW!
RIAA agents would just shoot their mouths off, then shoot themselves in the foot.
K.