Self Operational System (2010)

The self operational system is a autonomous boat that can navigate the Copenhagen harbor by itself. It uses two old motors from battery driven drills as propellers for steering and propulsion. The controller is a Xperia play phone with GPS, 3G and compass to navigate.

The system was completed in three days to explore the possibilities of the Xperia phones and work the intuitively wrong concept of the combination of phones and water. On the final day the challenge was to prove that it was possible for the boat to sail from the Teglholmen to the south-harbor without interference or control from our hand. Once the way points was placed the boat was left to navigate on its own, while we were following its position over the internet. Although it came frighteningly close to crashing on the rocks, it managed to make the trip and landed right in the arms of its creator who was waiting at the docking station.

This project was a part of a larger exploration with Xperia Studio. We want to convey the message to the world that technology should be designed for remixing, hacking and by its users. The process was filmed, and will published as part of a larger promotion about the phones.

Credits: Jonas Jongejan, Benjamin Weber and Nikolaj Møbius.

Source: https://github.com/Illutron/SOS

July 2010