Some cool prototyping quote pictures:
20130706blog.ted2
Image by cesarharada.com
weblog.ted.com/2013/07/05/unreasonable-at-sea-fellows-frida…
Unreasonable at sea: Fellows Friday with Cesar Harada, who circumnavigated the globe with Protei
Posted by: Karen Eng
July 5, 2013 at 10:56 pm EDT
A lot more
In January of 2013, TED Fellow Cesar Harada, inventor of an open-source sailing robot, set sail on a four-month, 14-nation round-the-world journey with Unreasonable at Sea, a global innovation accelerator on board a boat. Here, he tells us about how this extraordinary voyage helped crystallize his vision for how his open supply sailing robot Protei will contribute to cleaning up the world’s ocean and freshwater environments.
What is Unreasonable at Sea, and how did you come to join this expedition?
The Unreasonable at Sea is an accelerator for global innovation in social entrepreneurship. It is a system for ten entrepreneurs hosted on a floating university that sails around the globe for 4 months while becoming mentored by a group of 20 of the world’s most potent entrepreneurs. On the ship we created our method and organization models — in port we met with possible investors, governments, academics, nonprofits and the regional startup scene.
The plan was started by Daniel Epstein, co-founder of the Unreasonable Institute, and George Kembel co-founder of the Stanford d.college. Many of my close friends suggested that I apply to this system. At first sight, it was very attractive, but when I discovered that they would take 6% equities from our organization Protei, Inc., I became hesitant. Fairly close to the deadline, the TED Fellows system organisers encouraged me to apply, so I finally did and decided to go with Gabriella Levine, Protei, Inc.’s COO, on this life-changing adventure. The plan went beyond my expectations, changed me as a individual and helped us define our business future.
What was the mission of the journey, and how did it dovetail with what you are performing with Protei?
About 1,000 firms applied to this plan shy of 100 different nations of origin, and only 11 ended up becoming chosen. The major criterion is that you have to be a for-profit startup delivering a technology that has the potential to impact positively the lives of millions of men and women. The core belief of the plan is “entrepreneurship can alter the world” — quoting George Bernard Shaw: “The reasonable man (/lady) adapts himself to the globe the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the planet to himself. As a result all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
Even though the plan is taking location on the seven seas, Protei was the only company which was actively connected to the ocean. Our organization styles and manufactures open hardware — shape-shifting sailing robots to discover and clean the ocean. Consider maritime drone to transport environmental sensors and clean-up payload. The variety of applications for a fleet would be to skim oil spills, collect plastic trash, measure radioactivity around Fukushima, patrol all-natural reserves and fish populations, mapping coral reefs, supplying information connections among underwater robots and satellites. We have decided not to help weaponized applications.
Tell us about a handful of of your most critical stops and what you learned in every. How will these inform your future operate with Protei?
In Hawaii, we discovered how Protei could support aid plastic pollution research. We met with Dr. Henk Carson, Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins who are amongst the pioneers for plastic pollution research. We journeyed to Kamilo Beach and sampled plastic from the multicoloured beach produced of quite a lot only plastic. Pessimists estimate hundreds of millions of tons of plastic trash are presently breaking down into the ocean and slowly coming up the food chain back to our plates the other estimate only tens of tons: the scientific community fails at agreeing on the actual amount of plastic pollution in the ocean and its destructive effect on the life in the ocean due to the lack of information, frequency and resolution. Protei could carry optical sensor comparable to plankton counter and measure plastic debris in the ocean.
In Ghana, oil pollution is threatening standard fisheries. In 2007 massive oil reserves have been discovered, and intensive exploitation started in 2010 close to Takoradi shore, since renamed “oil city,” where western and Chinese oil businesses have rushed. Classic fisheries are suffering pollution, and the oil spill response capacity appears really inadequate, following the bad instance of the Nigerian oil sector. We met representatives from the ministries of energy, environment and fisheries and universities, and also went fishing with neighborhood fishermen. Protei is a modular sailing robot, so we could carry fish counters as nicely as oil detection gear to evaluate the effect of oil pollution on fish populations.
In Japan, we investigated radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean. With the Safecast volunteer network we constructed an underwater Geiger counter and measured radioactivity on the seabed in the exclusion area close to Fukushima. Not too long ago 120 tons of contaminated water employed to cool down the melting nuclear energy plant have leaked, and nobody knows the long term consequences of such pollution in the ocean. Around 300,000 Japanese are still refugees in their personal nation, unable to return to where they employed to reside in areas that were either devastated by the earthquake and tsunami, or that are presently contaminated. We strategy to return to Fukushima in September and deploy underwater Geiger counter-equipped Protei around the Fukushima power plant.
In the instances above, Protei can be a component of the answer. Protei will also be valuable for general oceanography and water-quality assessment, particularly in Vietnam and India, exactly where we witnessed terrible river and lake pollution. In Morocco, we organized a hackathon that was so successful, some of the participants have now set their own permanent Hackerspace in Casablanca.
What did you obtain?
As a business, Protei progressed on the community level, in that we now recognize significantly better what our consumers and developers from around the globe want, and how significantly they are prepared to devote to address which ocean concerns. In terms of technology, we did testing in the field on particular applications, which led us to make several crucial design decisions, define our initial feature set and a strategy to develop the technologies in the future. And we also created our company technique: we are looking for corporate partners and sponsors interested in ocean analysis and protection.
In the short term, we want to offer higher-high quality oceanographic instrument transport at the price of toys. We aim to manufacture 1,000 Protei (tiny, 1 meter-lengthy units) by the finish of the year with a easy feature set based on an Arduino microcontroller that can be upgraded with a Raspberry Pi or fitted with an Android-powered telephone to control a fleet of Protei anyplace in the 3G variety with high environmental information feed. We’re already in the approach of constructing a new neighborhood and retail website for the date of public release.
It sounds like this journey crystallized numerous issues for you, each in terms of what Protei can do and exactly where it requirements to go, as effectively as personally. You decided during the journey to move to Hong Kong. Why?
As a company we are trying to picture how capitalism can be used for the environment very first. We believe that if a technology is excellent for the atmosphere, it need to be produced offered for every person to use, modify and distribute. This is why we are installing ourselves in Hong Kong and manufacturing in Shenzhen, exactly where we are most likely to be copied. The problems in the ocean are also immense for us alone. The Hong Kong-Shenzhen combination is wonderful for the speed of prototyping and testing, with immediate access to parts and inexpensive manufacturing. The future of copying will benefit the environment.
On the individual level, I found a home at sea. That’s exactly where I want to reside. And being exposed to so many types of aquatic pollution and experiencing how it affects people’s lives has confirmed the relevance of our work, stimulates our creativity and increases my sense of urgency. I’m excited to transition from prototype to solution, and develop a community to explore and protect the ocean.
Far more
Tags for this story:
Cesar Haradaenvironmentfreshwaterglobaloceansopen supply sailing robotplasticpollutionProteiUnreasonable at Sea
20130706blog.ted4
Image by cesarharada.com
blog.ted.com/2013/07/05/unreasonable-at-sea-fellows-frida…
Unreasonable at sea: Fellows Friday with Cesar Harada, who circumnavigated the globe with Protei
Posted by: Karen Eng
July five, 2013 at 10:56 pm EDT
A lot more
In January of 2013, TED Fellow Cesar Harada, inventor of an open-source sailing robot, set sail on a 4-month, 14-country round-the-globe journey with Unreasonable at Sea, a international innovation accelerator on board a boat. Right here, he tells us about how this extraordinary voyage helped crystallize his vision for how his open source sailing robot Protei will contribute to cleaning up the world’s ocean and freshwater environments.
What is Unreasonable at Sea, and how did you come to join this expedition?
The Unreasonable at Sea is an accelerator for worldwide innovation in social entrepreneurship. It’s a plan for ten entrepreneurs hosted on a floating university that sails about the world for four months although getting mentored by a group of 20 of the world’s most potent entrepreneurs. On the ship we created our technique and organization models — in port we met with possible investors, governments, academics, nonprofits and the local startup scene.
The plan was began by Daniel Epstein, co-founder of the Unreasonable Institute, and George Kembel co-founder of the Stanford d.college. Numerous of my buddies suggested that I apply to this program. At initial sight, it was quite desirable, but when I found that they would take six% equities from our business Protei, Inc., I became hesitant. Pretty close to the deadline, the TED Fellows system organisers encouraged me to apply, so I lastly did and decided to go with Gabriella Levine, Protei, Inc.’s COO, on this life-changing adventure. The program went beyond my expectations, changed me as a individual and helped us define our company future.
What was the mission of the journey, and how did it dovetail with what you’re carrying out with Protei?
About 1,000 businesses applied to this system shy of one hundred diverse countries of origin, and only 11 ended up getting chosen. The principal criterion is that you have to be a for-profit startup providing a technology that has the potential to influence positively the lives of millions of men and women. The core belief of the program is “entrepreneurship can modify the world” — quoting George Bernard Shaw: “The reasonable man (/lady) adapts himself to the globe the unreasonable 1 persists in attempting to adapt the planet to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
Even although the program is taking location on the seven seas, Protei was the only firm which was actively connected to the ocean. Our business styles and manufactures open hardware — shape-shifting sailing robots to discover and clean the ocean. Consider maritime drone to transport environmental sensors and clean-up payload. The range of applications for a fleet would be to skim oil spills, gather plastic trash, measure radioactivity about Fukushima, patrol all-natural reserves and fish populations, mapping coral reefs, supplying information connections among underwater robots and satellites. We have decided not to assistance weaponized applications.
Inform us about a handful of of your most critical stops and what you discovered in each. How will these inform your future operate with Protei?
In Hawaii, we discovered how Protei could help aid plastic pollution analysis. We met with Dr. Henk Carson, Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins who are among the pioneers for plastic pollution analysis. We journeyed to Kamilo Beach and sampled plastic from the multicoloured beach produced of fairly much only plastic. Pessimists estimate hundreds of millions of tons of plastic trash are presently breaking down into the ocean and slowly coming up the food chain back to our plates the other estimate only tens of tons: the scientific community fails at agreeing on the actual quantity of plastic pollution in the ocean and its destructive effect on the life in the ocean due to the lack of information, frequency and resolution. Protei could carry optical sensor similar to plankton counter and measure plastic debris in the ocean.
In Ghana, oil pollution is threatening standard fisheries. In 2007 huge oil reserves had been found, and intensive exploitation began in 2010 close to Takoradi shore, given that renamed “oil city,” exactly where western and Chinese oil organizations have rushed. Traditional fisheries are suffering pollution, and the oil spill response capacity appears really inadequate, following the poor example of the Nigerian oil sector. We met representatives from the ministries of power, atmosphere and fisheries and universities, and also went fishing with nearby fishermen. Protei is a modular sailing robot, so we could carry fish counters as nicely as oil detection equipment to evaluate the influence of oil pollution on fish populations.
In Japan, we investigated radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean. With the Safecast volunteer network we built an underwater Geiger counter and measured radioactivity on the seabed in the exclusion region near Fukushima. Not too long ago 120 tons of contaminated water used to cool down the melting nuclear power plant have leaked, and no one knows the extended term consequences of such pollution in the ocean. About 300,000 Japanese are nevertheless refugees in their personal nation, unable to return to exactly where they utilised to reside in places that had been either devastated by the earthquake and tsunami, or that are at the moment contaminated. We strategy to return to Fukushima in September and deploy underwater Geiger counter-equipped Protei around the Fukushima energy plant.
In the cases above, Protei can be a element of the resolution. Protei will also be valuable for basic oceanography and water-top quality assessment, especially in Vietnam and India, where we witnessed terrible river and lake pollution. In Morocco, we organized a hackathon that was so successful, some of the participants have now set their personal permanent Hackerspace in Casablanca.
What did you obtain?
As a business, Protei progressed on the neighborhood level, in that we now understand much far better what our buyers and developers from about the globe want, and how a lot they are willing to devote to address which ocean problems. In terms of technology, we did testing in the field on specific applications, which led us to make many essential design choices, define our initial function set and a strategy to create the technologies in the future. And we also created our organization method: we are seeking for corporate partners and sponsors interested in ocean study and protection.
In the brief term, we want to provide high-good quality oceanographic instrument transport at the price tag of toys. We aim to manufacture 1,000 Protei (little, 1 meter-extended units) by the finish of the year with a basic feature set based on an Arduino microcontroller that can be upgraded with a Raspberry Pi or fitted with an Android-powered telephone to manage a fleet of Protei anywhere in the 3G variety with high environmental information feed. We’re already in the procedure of creating a new neighborhood and retail website for the date of public release.
It sounds like this journey crystallized many issues for you, each in terms of what Protei can do and where it requirements to go, as effectively as personally. You decided for the duration of the journey to move to Hong Kong. Why?
As a company we are trying to think about how capitalism can be employed for the atmosphere initial. We believe that if a technology is good for the atmosphere, it ought to be produced accessible for everyone to use, modify and distribute. This is why we are installing ourselves in Hong Kong and manufacturing in Shenzhen, where we are most probably to be copied. The difficulties in the ocean are too immense for us alone. The Hong Kong-Shenzhen mixture is amazing for the speed of prototyping and testing, with quick access to components and inexpensive manufacturing. The future of copying will benefit the atmosphere.
On the personal level, I found a residence at sea. That is where I want to live. And being exposed to so numerous types of aquatic pollution and experiencing how it affects people’s lives has confirmed the relevance of our perform, stimulates our creativity and increases my sense of urgency. I’m excited to transition from prototype to solution, and create a neighborhood to discover and protect the ocean.
Much more
Tags for this story:
Cesar Haradaenvironmentfreshwaterglobaloceansopen supply sailing robotplasticpollutionProteiUnreasonable at Sea