Posted on 06/24/2005 6:14:45 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
| This photo provided by Wired Nextfest shows Rob Innes skimming across the Chicago River in a bionic dolphin Thursday, June 23, 2005, to call attention to Nextfest, a futuristic technology show opening this weekend in Chicago. The dolphin, a submersible developed by Innespace, can power two people to 40 m.p.h. on the surface and 20 m.p.h. below. (AP Photo/Wired Nextfest, Brian Kersey)
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Mechanical dolphin makes a splash
June 24, 2005
BY GARY WISBY Staff Reporter Advertisement
Folks walking across the Michigan Avenue bridge Thursday morning witnessed something no one had ever seen before -- a mechanical dolphin in the Chicago River.
As tour boats and Chicago Police and U.S. Coast Guard officials waited impatiently, the piscine personal watercraft sped through the channel, jumping nearly free of the water and skimming briefly just below the surface.
It showed off to plug NextFest, a futuristic extravaganza at Navy Pier this weekend. The fiberglass and Kevlar craft will be on display, but not on water, as one of about 125 exhibits.
Pilot Rob Innes, whose company, Innespace, makes the contraption, said time and space limitations -- "I didn't want to hit a boat" -- prevented showing off the dolphin's full repertoire.
Used in movie
It can "fly underwater" at a depth of one foot as fast as 20 mph and hit 30 mph on the surface, Innes said. Airborne, it can lift its tail a foot clear of the water. It can do surface barrel rolls. And it can, the native New Zealander said, "jump, twist in midair and land on its side" -- just like a real dolphin.
Innes said Californian Thomas Rowe invented a "bionic" dolphin that in 1992 became the first lighter-than-water vehicle to achieve "underwater flight."
While most submersibles take on water ballast to dive, the bionic sort gets beneath the waves via its forward momentum and variable-pitch fins.
Rowe's business never took off, but with him as a consultant, Innes and partner Dan Piazza took over and in 2001 finished work on their version of the dolphin, named Sweet Virgin Angel. It appears briefly in the film "Austin Powers in Goldmember," with Dr. Evil at the controls.
The craft gets 110 horsepower from a Yamaha Waverunner engine and has an F-16 fighter jet canopy. A two-seater is due next year.
No match for the real thing
Ken Ramirez, director of training and husbandry for marine mammals at the Shedd Aquarium, said Sweet Virgin Angel is a tad faster than a dolphin, which can move 25 mph in short bursts. But otherwise the sleek creature wins any mammal-vs.-machine contest fins down.
Real dolphins can hold their breath 10 minutes or more and dive to depths that "easily surpass 1,000 feet," Ramirez said. They "walk" backward on their tails. Some can leap 25 to 30 feet in the air. While up there they can do corkscrew turns and backward and forward flips.
"You could train one to do a triple flip, but we don't normally do that," he said.
Ping!
Navy SEALS bump...
Okay, a 'Seaquest' fan with way to much time on their hands. Otherwise, cool...
I'd hate to get harpooned driving this thing.
A harpoon launched from a cannon. However, they will get nothing to eat, just scrap metal and plastic.:-)
A perfect gift for your favorite Evil Genius!
I'd like to understand the porpoise behind all this.
"I wasn't intrigued before I was."
I find your lack of faith rather fishy.
The Italians had a two-man submersible vehicle that was used to attach limpet mines to shipping in harbors. It consisted basically of a torpedo with two seats on it, and hand controls. A lot slower and less agile than this "dolphin", tho'.
The Italians had a two-man submersible vehicle that was used to attach limpet mines to shipping in harbors, durng WWII. It consisted basically of a torpedo with two seats on it, and hand controls. A lot slower and less agile than this "dolphin", tho'.
"We can rebuild him .... we have the technology"
Looks like it could use windshield wipers and a defroster.
Once submerged, it will have instant windshield-wiping and defrosting.:-)
Now just add a loudspeaker and an audio track of Rush doing his dolphin sounds. "Ack, ack, ack, Ack ack ack ack."
What? You are going to drive all Rats clinically insane? Actually, that is not too bad. They couldn't vote if that happens to them.:-)
I know but it seems to spend most time on the surface and that is where the problem is. Even underwater wouldn't condensation on the inside of the windshield be a problem?
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