[LUM#9] Mommy, Little Boats

[LUM Magazine] - Published on March 27, 2019 in Science-Society

What if the boat of the future was actually an airplane? After three years of collective work, Vincent Dufour, a researcher atthe Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier (ISEM), presents the Overboat. A technological and ecological gem that allows you to sail suspended above the water.

"What sets our boat apart from others is that it has legs. A bit like in the song, except that it's not for walking but for flying. " And that's what Vincent Dufour had dreamed of all his life. An oceanographer specializing in reef fish, a water sports enthusiast and sailor since childhood, this researcher has always loved "going to the front of boats and putting his feet on the surface of the water. It feels like flying!"

His dream, dubbed Overboat, was unveiled last December at the Paris Boat Show in the form of a one-and-a-half-meter-by-three-meter single-seater boat. Under its hull are four struts, each just over a meter long, known as the "legs," which end in a foil. A foil is an underwater wing that, like a kitesurf, lifts the hull out of the water using hydrodynamic lift.

Except that Overboat doesn't just drift with the waves and winds. Equipped with electric propulsion, numerous altitude and position sensors, and a fully robotic system connected to articulated foils, the boat steers itself almost automatically. "Not only is it a new way of traveling on water, but above all, you don't need to be an expert because the boat's intelligence will manage everything for you. All you have to do is press a trigger to control the acceleration."

A new way to get around

To bring this project to fruition, Vincent Dufour had to act as conductor and assemble a strong team around him. Lionel Lapierre (Montpellier Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics Laboratory), Laurent Latorre (Polytech), Loïc Daridon (Mechanical and Civil Engineering Laboratory), Daniel Matt, and Philippe Combette (Electronics and Systems Institute) make up what Vincent Dufour jokingly calls "the dream team. " "Thanks to this collective brainpower, we have already filed three patents," with one or two more to follow.

This fully electric flying boat has the added advantage of being environmentally friendly. "When the boat is lifted out of the water, the hull generates no resistance and we save 60% of the energy consumed." Aimed at both private individuals and scientists, the single-seater version will go on sale in 2019, but Vincent Dufour "sees no real limits to this technology" and plans to develop an XXL version of the Overboat.

Keywords: Innovation, LUM#9, LUM Magazine, Research