While the Full throttle inferno was a battle of speed and a show of strength (like many other competitions including Blackbird, Robowars etc) these little and relatively inexpensive ships has just one goal – run without any batteries! Yes ladies and gentlemen, the ships had a propeller but no batteries to run them. The contestants had to rely on the 500watt fuse that hangs over the water track to extract solar energy from and use that to run race their boats.
Most ships were made from thermacol or plastic (however we caught an innovative one with stress balls put to good use) with one or more solar panel attached to the top. Most boats were able to draw the power and sail initially, but as soon as they reached a part of the track that lies between two light focuses (that means the direct light from the bulb not coming over the ship) quite a few of them stopped working and were left sailing till they reach under another light source.
Housed indoor at the Elec seminar hall the venue wasn’t something as accessible as the Robowars (which just for the records witnesses the most active crowd participation at the SOM well) and we would have really loved green tech being promoted more. Nevertheless we hope these competitions and screenings like Age of Stupid would create some awareness.
