This Actuated Desktop Model Mirrors the Movement of a Real-Life Buoy

I never think much about buoys unless I’m watching a movie about man-eating sharks. But it turns out they don’t just float out on there on the ocean for the nice aesthetics; they’re there for a reason. Wave buoys, for instance, are there primarily to measure wave activity. And like everything else these days, the information they provide is available online. TheMaritimePilot used that data to build this desktop model that mirrors the movement of a selected real-life buoy.

TheMaritimePilot happens to be a maritime pilot in Belgium, so his work relies on the data provided by wave buoys. So, this idea makes perfect sense for him. But I think everyone else will appreciate it, too.

This is called SeaGlance and it is a small buoy, a few inches tall, that bounces around on virtual waves rolling across a desk. Of course, there aren’t any actual waves and so the buoy actually rides from a series of cables. Eight stepper motors can pool those cables in and out, moving the buoy up and down — and even tilting it side-to-side. SeaGlance turns those motors according to live data that it fetches over Wi-Fi.

SeaGlance can grab data from a variety of different sources. Many of them are country-specific and provided by those country’s relevant agencies, but they’re usually freely available to everyone, as they’re important for seafaring and also scientific research. Simply connect to the source you want and use the on-device interface to select the buoy you want to mirror.

If you like this idea, you can build your own SeaGlance. If you are able to do all of the work yourself, including sourcing PCBs, you can download the files from SeaGlance right now for €29 (about $32 USD). There is also an option that includes bare, unpopulated PCBs. But if you want a full kit or assembled boards, you’ll need to wait a little while for those to be ready. You can sign up for notifications on the SeaGlance website.