Lifeguardbot Can Tow You To Shore, No Mouth To Mouth Yet
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 28 of June , 2010 at 2:14 am
Hi, are you drowning? If so, you’re probably anxious to meet EMILY, a robot lifeguard that sacrifices skimpy bathing suits and implanted flotation devices for a sonar system and Jet Ski engine. EMILY (as you’ve probably guessed by now) is an acronym, which doesn’t really stand for EMergency Integrated Lifesaving lanYard but they’re just going to go ahead and make it happen anyway. Seriously, when you start pulling letters out of the middle of words, that’s just not fair.
Moving on.
EMILY is designed to be launched right from the beach or tossed out of a boat or helicopter. Sonar on the robot will somehow identify swimmers making underwater movements that indicate distress and home in on them, or remote control is an option too. Once there, lifeguards (human ones) can communicate with the hopefully conscious swimmer via speakers and cameras and instruct them to grab on to EMILY while the robot tows them to safety.
EMILY’s top speed (unburdened by bedraggled hangers-on) is 28 mph, which is some six times faster than a human. Her endurance of 8+ hours on patrol is nothing to sneeze at either. Basically, her stats make human lifeguards look like slouches. But until EMILY can plant a big wet one and breathe life back into your soggy corpse (or even grab on to a swimmer by herself) she’s not likely to be replacing the cast of Baywatch anytime soon. And let’s be honest: no robot could possibly replace the Hoff.
EMILY costs only $3500, which seems quite affordable. The question is, though, whether EMILY can compete with (say) a human on a real Jet Ski, which remains a much more versatile option than a robot.
[ Hydronalix ] VIA [ PopSci ]
Comments (2)
Category: Consumer
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Comment by Barrett Ames
Made Tuesday, 29 of June , 2010 at 10:53 pm
EMILY is actually named after a little girl who died and was close to the company employees.
Comment by Evan Ackerman
Made Tuesday, 29 of June , 2010 at 11:27 pm
That’s very sweet. The acronym is theirs, though, not something I made up or anything like that.
