Surfers are passionate about the ocean. This includes Benjamin Thompson, surfer and engineer, who came up with one ingenious idea to combine his love for surfing, the environment, and science by installing a tiny sensor inside surfboard fins.
Thompson’s prototype creation, SmartPhin, collects data on temperature, salinity, pH, and location as the surfer rides the waves, turning surfers into “citizen scientists.” When the surfer exits the water, the data is uploaded via a mobile application and SMARTPHIN’s wireless bluetooth.
Thompson hopes by equiping surfers with this technology, ocean data can be collected in spots normally too volatile to place equipment. Thompson’s company, BoardFormula is competing for a $2m Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health X Prize, encouraging innovators to improve our understanding of ocean acidification and what can be done to save the ocean.
Turning an everyday passion into a technology that could save our oceans, now that’s creative.
#CreativeSummer14 – Day 77/93
