French manufacturer Philip Fretel created an electric jet-ski boat called Exo Watt. It is a less noisy and ecological version of the large, fascist jet ski that we often see around when we swim.
The boat is completely electrified and powered by batteries. What are its advantages? You do not need a license to drive it. It's easy to move around. It needs minimal maintenance and consists of recyclable materials.
“For a few years, I owned a water sports club in Miami, Florida, and what I noticed was that the boats were getting bigger and bigger, heavier and heavier. They even consumed more fuel. My idea was to create a machine that would be more user friendly and you could easily take it to your home. It would use electricity and not pollute the environment. Not just in terms of soundpollution, but also carbon dioxide emissions" said Philippe Fretel.
The electric motor includes a propeller that is covered in a tube so that it is absolutely safe to drive in a bather area. The engine operates with three batteries, allowing the boat to catch 15 nodes for a whole hour. All the Exo Watt sketch is made of synthetic materials, commonly found in aeronautics. This allows it to be lightweight and particularly resistant to difficult conditions.
The original was presented in Cannes at the end of 2011. Now after several technical adjustments, and many tests, the craft is ready for trade. There are two versions. The first version costs 7.000 Euro, while the expensive version touches the 20.000 Euros, as the carbon fiber is the sketch.
On the other side of the globe now, in Australia, robotic machines engaged in agricultural work are becoming smarter. Queensland University of Technology has developed a robot, Agbot, moving between crops, spraying and uprooting small weeds. She manages to do it without spoiling the plants. Agbot is lightweight, requires no driver and moves to an area exceeding 2.000 hectares, using low-cost sensors.
“What we want to do is replace the big and heavy machines, which are getting bigger and bigger, with small, light, smart robots. In here we have all the basic parts related to the robot. Nothing is remotely controlled, it's all on the machine," said David Ball from the Queensland University of Technology.
The vehicle manages to move and avoid obstacles using cameras and a system GPS. The plan for the future is about 10 robots to manage a farm, doing everything, all XNUM time. It is a machine that farmers can handle more easily, has less noise and does not pollute like the big machines we use to exterminate parasites.
"The real benefit that robotics offers us is the discovery νέων τρόπων για την ανάπτυξη των καλλιεργειών, για την αύξηση της παραγωγής, για το πώς μπορούμε να χρησιμοποιήσουμε better fertilizers and how we can reduce the environmental footprint of farming," explains farmer Andrew Bate.
Scientists at the Queensland University of Technology are convinced that within the next decade, robots will be able to plant, weed, maintain and harvest crops across Australia. The only thing left for them to fix for now is the appearance. This is what they are working on now, before starting commercial trials in 2015.
