Canvassing Engineers to contribute to potential self parking and recovering dingy for yachts. “Dingy, come and get me” “Dingy, go dock on the boat”

[Daydream believer]

I would have to think about that. Happy to exchange ideas. But I know zilch about electronics. Perhaps building a model (say about 5 ft) to test a few theories would be fun. Use it to test docking & controls on a lake side, or pontoon, first would be within my capabilities, ( given a design) but not in the sailing season, that is for sure.
What are you like with CAD? I use Alibre, but am at the beginning stage having not had it long.I gave up with Freecad as there are too many bugs & Fusion 360 needs the cloud which is a pain in the rear.
Edit;-
I see your post#2 mentions fusion 360- sorry missed that

 

[creeks]

I presume you're aware of this company that I've previously mentioned elsewhere. Not exactly what you're trying to do but some of the technologies presumably similar to your requirements in terms of navigation, obstacle avoidance etc.

Roboat - Autonomy on the waterways.

 

[MisterBaxter]

Looking at it very pragmatically, if there was clear open water on the straight line route from the mother ship to the beach, the dinghy could just steer itself along that straight line with no need for more complicated sensors and algorithms. If you built a mark 1 with this capability, it would enable you to sort out the basics of attachment to the mother ship, propulsion, steering etc before you move on to the deeper problems. The system could then be used anywhere where a straight line route is possible, and the user could position themselves on the beach with clear line of sight before triggering the dinghy to come and get them.

 

[Daydream believer]

Looking at it very pragmatically, if there was clear open water on the straight line route from the mother ship to the beach, the dinghy could just steer itself along that straight line with no need for more complicated sensors and algorithms. If you built a mark 1 with this capability, it would enable you to sort out the basics of attachment to the mother ship, propulsion, steering etc before you move on to the deeper problems. The system could then be used anywhere where a straight line route is possible, and the user could position themselves on the beach with clear line of sight before triggering the dinghy to come and get them.

How do you re position yourself if you have to leave from a pontoon? You are assuming a beach launching.
If a boat was moored nearby parallel to the mothership the angle of hidden view could be very wide. That could mean walking 1/4 mile of restricted view along a beach before one got the straight line one needed.
What happens when another RIB, rowing boat, or sailing dinghy etc. crosses the path of the tender en route?

 

[MisterBaxter]

How do you re position yourself if you have to leave from a pontoon? You are assuming a beach launching.
If a boat was moored nearby parallel to the mothership the angle of hidden view could be very wide. That could mean walking 1/4 mile of restricted view along a beach before one got the straight line one needed.
What happens when another RIB, rowing boat, or sailing dinghy etc. crosses the path of the tender en route?

Yes, all very good objections! The idea wouldn't produce a long-term, workable solution, it would produce a test prototype for sorting out some of the issues outside of autonomous navigation, which could only be used in specific and limited circumstances, ie line of sight, no traffic nearby and short enough journey that no traffic will appear enough route.

 

[Daydream believer]

I think that the first step is a large model, say 6-7 ft+but transportable in a small van or estate. Electric power. Ebay Lipo batteries & wiring etc (£600 the set inc charger). A decent electric motor,(£400) with 200 amp ESC to control it from the batteries. Shaft drive & prop (£120) . Simple rudder steering,(£50) possible motorised. Servos(HiTec) will be in the £100+ range (£400) to control steering & docking clamp. A couple of FrSky Tandem X18 Dual Band Transmitters (£260 ea) with a pair of 6 channel receivers(£75 ea) working on 2.4ghz. Plus their own batteries (£25 ea)
I have no idea how much a GPS would cost -not a lot I suspect; but the 6 channel receivers should power them Ok with terminals to spare.
That is a guess at nearly £2000 investment to start with. That does not include the model which can be very expensive to build. My model RC planes cost in the hundreds just for the material.
Then someone to supply the mothership & start making the docking mechanism.
One can easily pick holes in the guess prices but one can get the idea & substitute what they think is different. It is all up for debate.

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