Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Hot off the scanner, Bionic Beach Bash Party pic links

[Lew Clayman <lew_clayman@yahoo.com>]

--- "Thomas A. Rowe" <doc@bionicdolphin.com> wrote:
> We haven't done the reverse somersault yet but we have worked out the logistics of the maneuver,
> we just need a bit more horse power for that one.

I believe.

>  It does however echolocate with the help of a Garmin side-scan sonar which we are planning to
> modify for surround sound, and we have gotten very close to a flukewalk but without the ball.

The echolocation thing I shoulda guessed, at least to the sonar.  Re the flukewalk - dolphin tails
go "sideways" vs fishtails that go up-and-down - so flukes are good at propulsion but not so good
as rudders.  Of course, that's one reason that flukewalking is possible in the first place.

So, assuming the BD has flukes, how do you steer it?  I see it making sharp turns in the photos,
with the pilot "counterbanking" like a showy BMXer, so I know it can!  Dolphins steer by a
combination of all fins and a powerful, flexible errr - abdomen? fusilage?  Anyway, that back
half.  I take it that the bionic hull is pretty much intented to remain straight.
 
> The first prototype actually did have a set of blowholes but their position prevented extended
> cruising just below the surface, so we moved it to the top of the dorsal. (perhaps our biologic
> counterparts will adapt this change in future evolutions)

That I guessed also.  The inspiration is, er, obvious.  Cetacea, of course, are very accomplished
at holding their breath...
 
>  I must also set the record straight, although I feel a close kinship with cetaceans, 90% of my
> developmental research on this project was on diving birds, in particular penguins.

Huh.  That I never woulda guessed.  Makes sense having read the "flying underwater" blurbs though.

How do you define the difference between "swimming" and "flying underwater"?

Other modes are possible too.. eg rays, which seem to fly like birds, flapping away, but maybe
this comparison is illusory...

> P.S, Don't cry Lew, I'm still taking on apprentices and so are my graduated apprentices.
> Just look what Rob Innes has achieved in just 3 years. I'm so proud of him! and now
> he is ready to teach.

Where, and what, do you guys teach?  In the "formal" sense, I mean...

-Lew

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"Yo no soy marinero / Soy capitan"
          - Traditional Mexican Lyric (La Bamba)
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