I've idly wondered if wave glider powered mini-barges could be used for some tasks. Like maybe a convoy fleet for timber. Or smuggling. https://www.liquid-robo

I've idly wondered if wave glider powered mini-barges could be used for some tasks. Like maybe a convoy fleet for timber. Or smuggling. https://www.liquid-robotics.com/wave-glider/overview/ https://www.liquid-robotics.com/wave-glider/overview/ -- After some quick googling: gliders travel 0.5-1.5 knots large cargo ships max at 25 knots. downward trend to save fuel, 20 knots is becoming norm. future norm might be as low as 12 knots. duration of trips between China and USA have been 2 - 4 weeks. so will lengthen to 4 - 8 weeks. so... given 7947 nautical miles (China to USA), a glider would take 11 months. Hmmm. -- For future, imagine 12 knots satisfies majority of tasks. There may be payloads where 2 months transit may be acceptable. Is there some combo of sail, foil, rotor, glider, coasting that could sustain 6 knots? Would much smaller, more frequent cargo ships be acceptable. One final notion: My original imagined use case for wave gliders is ocean cleanup. Various kinds of plastic sifting barges, forever at sea. Maybe bundle the plastic and drop it into a trench. Maybe have some kind of solar powered bio reactor that uses plastic as fuel. Maybe other bigger ships gathering the bails of plastic, like land based garbage trucks ply our neighborhoods.