Japanese wave-shaping machine

Computers & Mobile Craft & Design Science
Japanese wave-shaping machine

water-heart.jpg

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xdqpkg_research-institute_webcam

These are not standing waves; they appear momentarily and then recede. Which is still pretty amazing. The machine, at Japan’s National Maritime Research Institute, is being described in the English-language blogosphere as having been designed to conduct water-safety tests. [via Neatorama]

16 thoughts on “Japanese wave-shaping machine

  1. migpics says:

    Would this be an example of constructive interference?

  2. Plasma2002 says:

    As entertaining as this is, I dont really see any real world applications coming from it other than entertainment. (Disclaimer: i had it on mute, so if they were discussing it in the video, i didnt hear it)

    That being said, what if they used this in reverse? It seems to me that as long as there is a good way to detect incoming waves, the paddles could basically throw the inverse wave back at it to almost instantly neutralize the waves. Now THAT i can see a few applications for.

    1. migpics says:

      What about controlling the location of objects within a pool? This looks like it could be used to create a saddle point that could then be used to navigate a floating object around the pool.
      How that would apply in the real world let me get back to you!

      1. Plasma2002 says:

        Awesome! Im seeing automated surfing squirrels in the very near future

    2. vivi says:

      One thing that immediately comes to mind is rogue waves. They cause the relatively frequent loss of shipments or even whole cargoes, and their origin remains a mystery. This device can help understand how waves interact and can form bigger waves.

  3. Iceman086 says:

    Because its the National Maritime Research Institute I would bet that the use of the pool is to test large scale ship and drilling platform models to see how they react to waves and storms.

    The use of the wave maker to make shapes like that is more than likely a PR move to boost their popularity or gain some funding of some kind. I seriously doubt that they would build those facilities just to make cool shapes in water.

  4. Iceman086 says:

    Because its the National Maritime Research Institute I would bet that the use of the pool is to test large scale ship and drilling platform models to see how they react to waves and storms.

    The use of the wave maker to make shapes like that is more than likely a PR move to boost their popularity or gain some funding of some kind. I seriously doubt that they would build those facilities just to make cool shapes in water.

  5. lemoneasy says:

    I think it is now obvious that the Japanese are making super wave weapons of war.

    Don’t come crying to me when your city is wiped out by a heart-shaped tsunami.

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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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