Japanese wave-shaping machine

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By Sean Michael Ragan
Posted 2010/06/23 @ 9:08 am
Category Computers & Mobile, Craft, General, Science

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]

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8 Responses to Japanese wave-shaping machine

migpics on June 23rd, 2010 at 9:38 am said:

Would this be an example of constructive interference?

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Plasma2002 on June 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 am said:

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.

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- migpics on June 23rd, 2010 at 10:36 am said:
  
  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!
  
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  Plasma2002 on June 23rd, 2010 at 10:40 am said:
  
  Awesome! Im seeing automated surfing squirrels in the very near future
  
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- vivi on June 23rd, 2010 at 1:33 pm said:
  
  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.
  
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Iceman086 on June 23rd, 2010 at 11:52 am said:

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.

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Iceman086 on June 23rd, 2010 at 11:53 am said:

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.

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lemoneasy on June 23rd, 2010 at 2:20 pm said:

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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