A robot lifeguard named Emily (short for Emergency Lifesaving Integrated LanYard) has been seen on the exclusive surf beaches of Malibu in California this month, much to the dismay of the more traditional human model of lifeguard.
Emily has patrolled Malibu's Zuma Beach, with its inventor who claim that they are twelve times as fast as human rescuers.
Emily does not look like your "traditional" robot. Instead, she is a four-foot long, distance-controlled robot buoy. Emily is set to cost about $ 3,500 and also uses a sonar system that builds 3D maps of the surrounding water flows and is able to identify sounds associated with swimmers in trouble.
Robots surf!
47-year-old inventor Tony Mulligan claims that his latest creation can power through Malibu heavy whitewater breaking surf at more than 24 miles per hour. An achievement, as any would-be surfer that has tried paddling in heavy waves will know.
Mulligan previously ran a company called Advanced Ceramics Research, making unattended air vessels for the US Government. He sold that company to British Aerospace electronic systems for 14.7 million dollars in the summer of 2009.
Emily was later born from an original project back in late 2009 to build a small remote control boat to check for marine life at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Mulligan's new startup is an Arizona-based company called Hydronalix, production of new technology concepts for maritime robotics.
Human lifeguard hits back
Those pesky old fashioned ' human ' models of lifeguards are a threat to the robot.
"This is a classic example of an inventors idea of solving a problem that does not necessarily tie together with reality," according to the President of the United States Lifesaving Association, Chris Brewster, who also points out that Emily would be of no use to an unconscious swimmer or surfer.
Via CNN
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