Hasta La Gadget!

I’ve seen wingsuits used in basejumping and skydiving, but I guess it makes sense to use something akin to those suits underwater, since some animals like ray fish use their “wings” to fly underwater.

The Oceanwings neoprene suit from AquaLung Dreamlab is supposed to help humans in their subaquatic activities. The suit was created by French designer Guillaume Binard and Frédérique Gouin. It looks like the suit lets you sort of “fly” through the water without much energy expense, though it will probably take some time to get used to the way that it makes the water flow around your body.

You can see the suit in action in this underwater video directed by Jérôme Espla, featuring Pierre Frolla as he dives into the abyss.

[via designboom]

DARPA already intends to set a drone ship out to sea, and now it’s revealed plans for undersea payloads that lie dormant for years and launch themselves to the surface when remotely commanded. Dubbed Upward Falling Payloads, the containers will carry non-lethal cargo such as small UAVs or networking hardware, and take advantage of the “cheap stealth” their position underwater grants them. Since the vision is to have a fleet of UFPs spread throughout ocean floors, it’ll help the Navy “get close to the areas we need to affect, or become widely distributed without delay,” according to DARPA Program Manager Andy Coon. DARPA is aiming to tap engineering talent from telecom companies to the oil exploration industry in order to solve challenges such as communications used to wake up payload nodes and launching them to the surface. There’s no word on when UFPs will begin lurking sea floors, but DARPA is already looking for proposals to help build them.

[Image credit: Alwbutler, Flickr]

Continue reading DARPA unveils plans for undersea payloads that surface on command

Filed under: Science, Alt

Comments

Via: Gizmag

Source: Darpa

The U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program began in the ’60s. The idea was that dolphins and sea lions would help defend harbors, retrieve sunken equipment and, even identify mines for deactivation. Now they have changed their mind and they want robots to do the dirty work. This will leave many sea mammals without a job, having to collect fish treats on their own.


It’s an expensive program with its team of veterinarians and handlers. Robots can be repaired, whereas if a dolphin dies, it has to be replaced and retrained. Dolphins will be replaced by the Knifefish by Bluefin Robotics, which basically looks like a missile. It can operate continuously underwater for up to 16 hours – much better than a dolphin who needs to actually breathe, eat, poop and occasionally sleep.

The Knifefish will use sonar to hunt for mines and will be joined by other robots who will take over all of the mammal’s duties.

[via PopSci via Dvice]

Ever wonder what it would be like to shoot a gun underwater? It looks like a scene lifted straight from a Bond flick. More »

After working on its sea legs for some time, Google Street View is ready to take users on virtual scuba expeditions through six living coral reefs with the first underwater panoramic images to hit the service. In partnership with The Catlin Seaview Survey, Mountain View created the on-rails snorkeling experiences using undersea pictures from Heron, Lady Elliot and Wilson Islands at the Great Barrier Reef, Molokini Crater and Hanauma Bay in Hawaii and the Apo Islands in the Philippines. Combined with views from Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, the new underwater tours might make for a respectable, desk-based vacation. Interested in paddling through the briny depths? Head past the break for a short preview or hit the source links below to dive right in.

Continue reading Google Street View gets its first underwater panoramic images, ready for desk-based scuba expeditions (video)

Filed under: Internet

Google Street View gets its first underwater panoramic images, ready for desk-based scuba expeditions (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Google Lat-Long Blog, Google Street View  | Email this | Comments