Forget Pamela, Meet EMILY
The lifeguard has long been a staple of American beaches. We can all conjure up the Baywatch image of Pamela Anderson in her red bathing suit sprinting towards the ocean with a small raft in hand. The next generation of lifeguards may not be as sexy, but they could potentially save lives and make the ocean a far safer place.
These days it is not uncommon to see robotic technologies increasingly replace human labor. We have remote controlled robotics that diffuse bombs, perform intricate surgery through tiny incisions, and perform aerial surveillance in Iraq. In some cases these machines protect the operator from inherent risk and, in almost any instance, they allow for precision that cannot be achieved by the human body.
EMILY (EMergancy Integrated Lifesaving LanYard) was debuted in December at Malibu’s dangerous Zuma beach and interest in the product is spreading up and down the coast. The robot is 4.5’ in length and is in simplest terms a motorized flotation device, designed to rapidly reach struggling swimmers and pull them back to shore. The compact machine is incredibly robust and efficient, traveling at speeds of up to 40 mph in open water and, most impressively, 28 mph through rough waves in a near straight line. It can travel up to 80 miles or 35 minutes at max speed on a single charge. The 25 pound device is powered by a jet ski like electric impeller and is buoyant and powerful enough to carry 5 people to shore. The current incarnation requires human remote control, but the units that go to an estimated 25 beaches by the end of the year will be equipped with sonar technology that senses underwater movements and noises typical of distressed swimmers as well as a speaker system so lifeguards can verbally communicate with swimmers.
EMILY was produced by Hydronalix, a company founded by serial entrepreneur Tony Mullins, who has previously founded and later sold an unmanned aircraft company, Advanced Ceramics Research. He is actively marketing the $3,500 unit to beaches, hotels, and cruise lines with visions of fleets of the units patrolling the coast with the help of water sensing bouys. He even has bigger dreams for his small robotic child, foreseeing specialized units with applications in automated maritime research. "I definitely wanted to do something like this," Mulligan said. "To me, the exciting thing is inventing new things, and inventing a new business. Plus, I wanted to spend more time with the university and doing more community-related activities."
- Ben Albright