cesarharada.com/blog

About Me

Cesar Harada (28) is an French-Japanese inventor and entrepreneur.
Cesar invented a ground-breaking sailing technology, a boat that changes shape, “Protei”. Originally developed to clean up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Protei is an Open Hardware project now developed by an international community of scientists, engineers and designers for many other applications such as nuclear radiation sensing off Japan, plastic sensing in the Pacific garbage patch, red tide studies in Mexico and much more.
Cesar is also the general coordinator of the future International Ocean Station. Former Project leader at MIT, Cesar teaches Masters in Design & Environment at Goldsmiths University in London. Cesar graduated in 2009 from the Design Interactions course at the Royal College of Arts in London, his collaborative project Open_Sailing received the Ars Electronica Golden Nica award for the [NEXT IDEA].

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Protei Update #11: We are ready!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cesarminoru/protei-open-hardware-oil-spill-cleaning-sailing-ro/posts/86877

"Update #11: We are ready!

We've been around for almost 2 weeks in Rotterdam at the V2_ now, and we got our space set up, keys for everybody, internet connexion, a fridge for our lunches, a big table to work ect : the conditions to work !

This is Matthew Lippincot from Oregon - now studying in Swtizerland - working on our MEGA TABLE - to do large pattern cutting and large plastic sheet assembly. 

We have received our oil booms! Roberto Melendez and Piem Wirtz saying "YAY". May I say "LOL" even ? 

And we had an intense week of brain-storming and drawing : 

Here, Henrik Rudstrom, Logan Williams, Roberto Melendez and Qiuyang Zhou in the background. 

We have divided the team in 3 smaller groups to research shape-shifting hulls : 
1. Spine-based hull, moving around a flexible axe.
2. Hollow hull, actuated by it's surface. 
3. Pneumatic, entirely actuated by pressure transfers. 

That means that at the end of this week, you will see 3 mechanical principle prototypes coming along! Stay tuned :)

And this week, meet the wonderful Roberto Melendez!

 

 

Engineer 1 : Roberto Melendez (El Salvador, USA), Mechanical and Ocean Engineering , MIT. roberto@opensailing.net. Roberto, 21, is a student of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering at MIT. A native from El Salvador, he enjoys sailing, biking, windsurfing, fútbol and being outdoors in general. Thanks to Toni Nottebohm for the video. 

Get to know the Protei team on the people page.

Filed under  //  NL   Open_Sailing   Protei   Rotterdam  
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Great illustration of Protei in Canadian Press

Original file here: http://www.canoe.com/sections/fichier/20110404-protei-EN-CS3.pdf

Thanks to Etienne Gernez, Agence QMI  Justin Stahlman et Kinia Adamczyk

Filed under  //  Amazing   Canada   Illustration   Media   Open_Sailing   Press   Protei  
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Protei "Alien" 5.1 by Rotterdam bridge

A week ago, we floated Protei 5.1 in Rotterdam by the famous bridge !!!

Protei 5.1 by Rotterdam bridge

We gave a nickname to this yet undocumented version : Protei 5.1 "Alien" after we took this picture :
Protei 5.1 [Alien]

Protei 5.1 is mostly transparent body, so we can things move inside. 

Protei 5.1, Rotterdam NL DSC_0279DSC_0395

Protei 5.1 is the baby of Piem Wirtz, Etienne Gernez, Henrik Rudstrom and Cesar Harada, all built for about $150 at the V2_  in Rotterdam, NL.


Protei 5.1 control box top detail DSC_0359

Protei 5.1 wasn't a truly functionnal prototype, but enabled us to :

  • - Combine Inflatable AND articulated hull (Protei 002 + 003).
  • - Test new Materials.
  • - Enhance a more compact version of the command box with suspended servos.
  • - Enhance the transmission cable path.
  • - Give a preview to the $400 backer of the type of Protei they will get.

    • It was great fun, we learnt a lot again but overall Protei 5.1 will be very useful for the whole Protei team coming this summer in Rotterdam to build the full-scale Prototype.

    If you want to stay updated with the progress of Protei, we recommend you to join the Open_Sailing Facebook group:) 

    Just as a reminder : there is only 5 days left to back Protei on Kickstarter. Thanks!

    Original Post on Kickstarter, copy on Protei/news.

    Filed under  //  sailing   Alien   Collaboration   Model   NL   Open_Sailing   Protei   Protei5.1   Robot   Test   V2_  
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    Launch of Protei, oil spill cleaning open hardware sailing robot.

    Protei-on-kickstarter

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cesarminoru/protei-open-hardware-oil-spill-cleaning-sailing-ro

    Dear fellows. We just launch yesterday Protei on Kickstarter. 
    Please share the link to our Kickstarter on your facebook, or if you know people in 
    - environmental justice
    - sailing world
    - DIY
    - open-source
    - engineering

    Protei is a fleet of Sailing Drones, developed primarily to collect Oil Spills under Open Hardware licensing. An oil spill drifts down the wind, Protei sails upwind to collect the oil. Everyone is welcome to join, contribute, modify, produce, distribute the design and share their findings.

    You can watch the 3 minutes video under to understand the detail of how it works :

    The technology is really exciting beyond the fact that it could help for ocean study and cleaning. 
    Have a lovely TED2011!

    Filed under  //  Kickstarter   Oil Spill   Open_Sailing   Perry Chen   Protei   Robot   TED   TED2011   TEDxOilSpill  
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    Protei.org - Ocean cleaning robots presented at TEDxMidAtlantic


    youtube.com/watch?v=OYWmBgHvlJU 
    HD archive | Mp4 Archive | Flv mini archive

    Thanks to the TEDxMidAtlantic organizers Dave Troy and Nate Mook for this great event.
    You can see a shorter and clearer video of the Protei.org presentation without speech hesitations and working animations just below :


    youtube.com/watch?v=uv5D6E5Nv_M
    Download HD archive (84mb) | Original huge HD (1.2GB)

    Filed under  //  Sea   Ocean   Presentation   Protei   Robot   TED   TEDxMidAtlantic   Washington DC  
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    Presenting Protei @ TEDxMidAtlantic

    A few days ago, I was lucky to be on stage of TEDxMidAtlantic to present Protei, a technology in development I am working on with a bunch of brilliant people (especially Open_Sailing, randomwalks and V2_ folks).
    Protei would be a Fleet of Oil Collecting Sailing drones. I just made this 7 minutes video that explains how it works (also on youtube if you want to share / embed / rate). I am now working on the collaborative website and the documentation to meet Open Hardware standards - long way to go :) The video of the talk may come up sometimes, meanwhile you have my explanation here :)

    Download Hi-Quality movie (82Mb) | Full HD quality (1.2 Gb)

    Filed under  //  Cesar Harada   Ocean   Oil Spill   Open_Sailing   Protei   TED   TEDxMidAtlantic   TEDxOilSpill   Talk   V2_   Washington DC   randomwalks  
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    Protei-005


    Also on youtube
    http://protei.org

     

    Protei-005 testing
    20100911, Nabi Art Center, Seoul
    By 
    Open_Sailing | opensailing.net
    randomwalks | randomwalks.org
    at the Nabi Art Center in Seoul | nabi.or.kr
    With the kind support of
    V2_ | v2.nl
    LA Bucket Brigade | labucketbrigade.org
    Suzette Becker Toledano | suzettebecker.com

    Protei-005's aim is to have the control on-board, no more remote controlling like 002, 003, the machine should sense its environment and make the decision where to go next. 

    The test did not go so well, but we've learnt a lot on the way :
    - the basic electronics (diagrams and pictures coming up soon on the http://protei.org) is pretty good, worked out of the water and provides a good extendable basis for future developments. 
    - improved miniaturization
    - simpler shape are easier to compute and evaluate (drag + turbulences) so that's also quite a good thing for simple dynamic engineering
    BUT
    the many cool things about Protei-005 is that we start to sketch a model for evaluation :) So, we have 
    - wind sensor (direction + power) made from a Wiimote Nunchuck
    - accelerometers on board, vibration sensors
    - Xbee to send the information in real-time to a logging computer

    We have a controlled environment so we can simulate wind, at the speed we like to. Hopefully next version we can do also waves and currents... :)
    And even better, we have a webcam above the whole setting capturing the boat movement. So we have with Protei-005, not only a semi-autonomous machine but also a good indoor evaluation setup. Eventhough the test wasn't impressive (not bad for 3 days of work on a robot though), we have a lot of new infos. So in the close future, it is not only about the machine but it is about : 

    * Machine (with sensors onboard + realtime communication) 
    * Controlled environment
    * Software analyzing behavior :)

    And we need to urgently work on the documentation on the website and publishing the specs (sorry!), and eventually a step by step for each protei up-to-date... Also the fact that Protei is a collaboration of Open_Sailing & randomwalks, needs to be way clearer, so much work to do... :) 

    Some pictures
    mechanics
    The fabulous Kisoon !
    That's how simple this machine is.

    Electronics tinkering :
    Diagram
    The real thing 
    tinkering 
    wireless communication of sensor data to computer :)

    Webcam tracking + real time path algorithm by Sey Min
    Path analyzed with Proce55ing

    Next larger scale evaluation (outdoor with huuuuuge Protei)
    We also have a korean presentation here

    You can see the presentation online, or download as pdf (14mb)

    Filed under  //  Electronics   Korea   NABI   Open_Sailing   Protei   Robot   Sensor   Seoul   randomwalks  
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    Protei-003


    also on youtube
    20100817 in Lake Pontchartrain

    http://protei.org
    by Open_Sailing + randomwalks
    Cesar Harada + Sey Min

    thanks to
    LA Bucket Brigade : http://labucketbrigade.org/
    Suzette Toledano Becker : http://suzettebecker.com/
    with the support of V2_ :  http://v2.nl/
    Special thanks to Hunter Daniel, Mariko Toyoji, Shannon Dosemagen. 

    Test of Protei-003 (3m long, 6.5 meter high, 25kg total, 18kg ballast) didnt go that well ... hum hum... The mast feet broke, not enough triangulation I guess... the ballast didn't affect the direction enough (too flexible keel) ... and there was no wind (HAHAHA) just enough of a beautiful sun to make really romantic pictures, the best one below by Hunter Daniel. BUT we learnt a lot and Protei-004 will be Übercool! Can't be bingo every time, right :) For those who don't know about Protei : it is a fleet of semi-autonomous sailboat that are specifically designed to pull long heavy loads, long oil-absorbant booms to collect oil spill. http://protei.org You can also check out the previous test machines that led us to this design : Protei-002 (entirely articulated RC boat), Protei-001 (front-steering boat).
    And now time travel : from the navigation back into the making : 

    Protei-003
    Protei-003 close-upProtei-003Protei-003P1011273Protei-003
    Protei-003
    Protei-003
    Hunter Daniel and Protei-003test flotation Protei-003
    Protei-003 preparing
    Protei-003
    Protei-003 preparationProtei-003 command boardtest fitting protei-003Protei-003 fabrication
    junction piece for Protei-003

    Filed under  //  Sea   Articulated   Incheon   LABB   NOLA   New Orleans   Oil Spill   Open_Sailing   Protei   Robot   Sey Min   Water   randomwalks  
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    Protei-002

     

    By Open_Sailing + randomwalks
    Cesar Harada + Sey Min
    Thanks to 
LA Bucket Brigade : http://labucketbrigade.org/
    Suzette Toledano Becker : http://suzettebecker.com/
    with the support of V2_ : http://v2.nl/
    Based on the T37 of Tippecanoe Boats : http://modelsailboat.com

     

    Protei is an unmanned articulated sailboat designed to pull heavy loads upwind, in particular oil absorbent boom as a "long tail", to clean up oil spill in remote areas or in bad weather. Protei is needed to replace human labor exposed to toxic pollutant and in hurricane time. 
    Protei-002 is an articulated robot, the test went OK. I had to trim the sail smaller, add weight at the ballast, make the electronic access higher to allow more lateral tilt. The fact that the electronic is not well protected is a big problem : as soon as there is too much wind, the boat tilts a lot and fills with water, so I was not able to conduct extensive testing, quickly I had shortcuts on the machine. For those who didn't see, Protei-001 was a super cool front-steering robotic sail-boat. Time is running out, instead of working more on Protei-002, I'm building Protei-003, inflatable, bigger, stronger, faster, more powerful, coming soon !

    Filed under  //  Electronics   Gulf   NOLA   Oil Spill   Pontchartrain   Protei   RC   Robot  
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    Protei-001

    Yesterday went testing Protei-001 on Lake Pontchartrain (New Orleans LA). 
    What's so special for Protei-001? It is a Front-Steering Remote Control Sailing Boat  (the rudder is right a the front of the boat).
    First tested without a tail, and with the tail (about 4 meters). Without the tail, the maneuverability is amazing ; with the tail, the control is pretty good, much better than  with a classical back rudder sailing boat. The aim is to make a powerfull yet simple semi-autonomous sailing boat with a high pulling capacity - in the case of Protei it is a long oil-absorbing tail that cleans an oil spill.

    Also on youtube 

    http://protei.org
    by Open_Sailing + Random Walks
    Cesar Harada + Sey Min

    Thanks to : 
    LA Bucket Brigade : labucketbrigade.org/
    Suzette Toledano Becker : suzettebecker.com/
    V2_ : v2.nl/

    Based on the T37 : modelsailboat.com/

    Protei-001 is on the second line of this diagram, Protei-002 (third line) is an all articulated boat, to be tested very soon!

    More pictures :)

    This is the technical drawing of Protei-002, with the exact same proportions of Protei-001, but not only front-steering : the whole boat can curve :
    testing Protei-002 very very soon! Stay tuned ~

    Filed under  //  Front-Steering   Incheon   Korea   LA Bucket Brigade   LABB   NOLA   Navigation   New Orleans   Oil   Oil Spill   Open_Sailing   Protei   Robot   Rudder   Suzette   USA   randomwalks   toledano  
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