Here’s a very interesting product, called Amphi, for those who love hitting up the sea. Amphi is a monofin with a built-in thruster that helps to power you through the water. It is not those electric bodyboard or anything like that. It is feet-worn and function much like the pedal assist bicycle, except that Amphi is a fin for underwater application. This means, effort on your part is required and Amphi is there to amplify, so to speak, your kicks.
Alex Kuczowicz, Director of Safety and Training, told us that the more power your muscle deliver, the more support Amphi transfers to the propeller. I imagine you will be able to swim like a dolphin. We do not how powerful is the thruster of the final product will be. However, we were told that the working prototype’s thruster produces 30 lbs of thrust that enables an average person to swim at 3 knots, or about the speed of most underwater scooters.
It is powerful enough to “you feel like flying through the water,” but certainly not enough for you breach the water like a dolphin, if that’s what you are thinking. A 3rd version with stronger thruster that will allow its wearer to swim beyond 5 knots is in the work. The idea behind Amphi is to build the fastest personal underwater propulsion system that could achieve around 8-9 knots and doing so without bulking the user down. The prototype weighs in at just 10 lbs. It has an onboard battery that provides an average of 2 hours use, or 45 minutes under “maximum support.”
Amphi is designed in such a way that the thruster is between the ankles of the wearer and since it is feet-worn, it frees up the hands to explore the underwater world. There is no handheld control or whatsoever; speed up and slow down are executed simply by moving the fin. The device sensitivity to your kick can be adjusted, but it has to be done prior to getting into the water. Letting you experience the feeling of “flying” underwater is just part of a bigger picture.
Amphi has environment conservation in mind. It will be developing a sensor module called MyGaya to be use with Amphi devices. MyGaya, when installed on your Amphi, will collect temperature, pressure and salinity data (presumably with GPS info) as you spend quality time with the ocean. In short, MyGaya will turn the bionic monofin into an environmental data collection system that, if you chose to share the data, will benefit the ocean scientists who are studying the changes in the oceans.
The team planned to make Amphi Powered Bionic Monofin available in Summer 2020 at Amphi online store as well as outdoor product retail shops, but prior to that, it will take to crowdfunding platform to market the product which will happen sometime next month.
As for the price, it is, naturally, not going to be cheap. It will retail for $2,500-2,800, which is consistent with the pricing of most electric-powered underwater device. Not sure if it will see any discount when it goes on to crowdfunding platform, though.
Skip ahead to have a look at Amphi in action.
All images courtesy of Amphi.
Submitted via TIP US Page.
