{"id":11555,"date":"2023-11-13T13:50:54","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T13:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/13\/this-unmanned-lifeboat-could-rescue-drowning-people-on-its-own\/"},"modified":"2023-11-13T13:50:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T13:50:54","slug":"this-unmanned-lifeboat-could-rescue-drowning-people-on-its-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/13\/this-unmanned-lifeboat-could-rescue-drowning-people-on-its-own\/","title":{"rendered":"This unmanned lifeboat could rescue drowning people on its own"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Far from the watchful eyes of the coastguard, Scotland\u2019s waters are\u00a0home to a growing number of offshore wind farms, alongside their oil and gas rigs \u2013 and working on this remote infrastructure brings many risks.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Accidents are all too common, and often deadly, says Sam Mayall, a lifelong sailor and former maritime transport deck officer. A 2023 report by the UK\u2019s Marine Accident Investigation Branch indicates that 40% of man-overboard maritime incidents are fatal.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      \u201cA lot of the technologies employed offshore now are the same technologies that have been there for the last 40 or 50 years,\u201d says Mayall.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Turning to artificial intelligence and smart tech to overhaul maritime safety, his company Zelim is working on a trio of life-saving technologies \u2014 including an autonomous, unmanned lifeboat called \u201cGuardian.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      The Scottish startup, which Mayall founded in 2017 when he was just 22 years old, is now working with the US Coastguard and several offshore energy companies to perfect its tech, which Mayall hopes can make rescues quicker for the victims and safer for the rescuers.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      \u201cMariners should no longer be putting their lives in harm\u2019s way to save people,\u201d says Mayall. \u201cWe believe we can set a new benchmark in safety.\u201d  <\/p>\n<div class=\"gallery-inline gallery--hidden\">\n<div class=\"gallery-inline__main\">\n<div class=\"gallery-inline__container\">\n<div class=\"gallery-inline__slides\">                                                                                                        <\/div>\n<p>        <button class=\"gallery-inline__prev-overlay\"><\/button>        <button class=\"gallery-inline__next-overlay\"><\/button>      <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h5 class=\"gallery-inline__headline\">Self-driving boats are already making a splash<\/h5>\n<div class=\"gallery-inline__counter\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-inline__controls\">        <button class=\"gallery-inline__prev\">          Prev                  <\/button>        <button class=\"gallery-inline__next\">          Next                  <\/button>      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"subheader\">    Autonomous lifeboats<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      The Guardian vessel incorporates Zelim\u2019s AI detection system for spotting victims and its Swift conveyor belt for lifting people out of the water. The boat has two-way comms on board so that, once rescued,<strong> <\/strong>the victim can speak to a telemedicine team that offers first-aid guidance until the craft can reach a larger vessel.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Rather than replacing rescuers, the technology is designed to take the ethical dilemma out of difficult rescues, says Mayall: \u201cIn a lot of cases worldwide, the decision is made not to launch the rescue assets because of the risk to the rescuer.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Guardian could be deployed from an offshore facility, where personnel are often scarce, and there isn\u2019t always time to call emergency services, with many accidents happening hours away from lifeboats, says Mayall.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      \u201c(Around) 80% of the deaths happen in the first 30 minutes, so it\u2019s critical that you have the ability to help yourself when you are offshore,\u201d he adds.  <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subheader\">    \u201cSwift\u201d rescues<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Guardian is still undergoing development, but Zelim\u2019s detection and conveyor belt technologies are already being trialed.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Back in 2017, the team began with the basics: spotting people in choppy waters and harsh weather conditions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      \u201cTrying to find someone in the water is exceedingly difficult,\u201d says Mayall, adding that eyesight is fallible and varies between individuals. \u201cThere\u2019s inconsistency between my eyes at the beginning of a search and my eyes half an hour in.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      To combat this, Mayall\u2019s team created an AI-powered software program that can be applied to existing camera feeds, like drones or CCTV.  <\/p>\n<div class=\"interactive-video\">\n<div class=\"interactive-video__container \">                                                <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Using data provided by the US Coastguard, Zelim\u2019s machine-learning model is trained on more than five million images of real-life people in the water, and currently detects casualties in the water with 90% accuracy, Mayall says.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Spotting people is just one part of search and rescue \u2014\u00a0getting them out of the water rapidly<strong> <\/strong>is also critical.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      In cold water\ufeff, shock sets in within three minutes, which can cause hyperventilation, restricted blood flow, and ultimately, hypothermia. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch report found<strong> <\/strong>that on average, victims become unresponsive within 11 minutes of hitting cold<strong> <\/strong>water.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Zelim\u2019s \u201cSwift\u201d conveyor belt is adapted to the maritime environment to get people out of the water quickly.<strong><\/strong>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Traditionally, people are pulled out of the water using a davit winch, which takes around 10 minutes, says Laura Tognarelli, a former army engineering officer who joined Zelim in 2022 and oversees the rollout of its technology.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Swift, on the other hand, takes just 30 seconds.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      \u201cIt\u2019s not just about getting there quicker, it\u2019s not just about finding them quicker, but it\u2019s about the consistency and the speed and taking out the fatigue and the rescue as well,\u201d says Tognarelli. \u201cIt takes away the stigma of needing to have a certain level of strength or endurance to work offshore and it allows that rescue to be open for everybody.\u201d  <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subheader\">    \u201cThe most hazardous jobs\u201d<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      The Swift conveyor system is currently undergoing trials, including with the Milford Haven Port Authority (MHPA), one of the largest energy ports in the UK.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      \u201cWe were impressed by the simplicity of the design,\u201d says Gareth Phillips, project manager at MHPA. Because it is<strong> <\/strong>easy to use, store and maintain, Phillips can see applications for Swift across a range of industries, including ports and offshore wind farms.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      MHPA is planning to install Swift on one of its pilot vessels, which guide large ships in and out of the port. Marine pilots often board ships from their vessel, climbing up a ladder on the exterior of the hull. \u201cMarine pilot transfer is probably one of the most hazardous jobs out there in the marine industry,\u201d says Phillips.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      Despite the upfront installation and development costs, the price of Swift is comparable to other spending on safety equipment, says Phillips \u2014 and if the trial is successful, MHPA plans to roll out the system across its pilot vessel fleet.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      The maritime industry is slow to innovate, says Phillips, and the industry-standard rescue winches have been the same for decades. Zelim\u2019s solutions offer a new, smarter way to approach maritime safety, he says.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\">      \u201cWe have to ensure for our own people that we have the best possible life-saving equipment on our vessels,\u201d he adds.  <\/p>\n\n<div>This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Far from the watchful eyes of the coastguard, Scotland\u2019s waters are\u00a0home to a growing number of offshore wind farms, alongside their oil and gas rigs \u2013 and working on this remote infrastructure brings many risks. Accidents are all too common, and often deadly, says Sam Mayall, a lifelong sailor and former maritime transport deck officer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}