It’s 100+ degrees and you are at football practice. You are covered head-to-toe in pads and a helmet in the exhausting summer heat. As half of the team sprints over to the 8-headed sprinkler hydration system, the other half of the team is wishing someone, or something could bring them the cool, refreshing liquid.
There has to be a better way. Something other than getting drenched by gallons of water like the Great Wolf Lodge bucket dump – that would be perfect.
La Jolla Country Day School in San Diego, California has a potential solution that you might find silly (its okay, they did too). With the help of CamelBak water company, a drone could be a team’s new waterboy. The days of Adam Sandler’s Bobby Boucher are coming to an end. This drone shows no mercy, just like Captain Insano.
According to NBC San Diego’s, Derek Togerson, the high flying water drone at La Jolla, the Hydrone (as they are calling it) is the next big thing in the “Team Hydration” movement.
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“Players get distracted and they forget to hydrate while they’re playing,” said Christine Mitchell, the athletic trainer at La Jolla Country Day School. “The big game is coming up. They’re thinking about what their coach is saying. They’re not thinking about hydrating, they’re thinking about their plays.”
The inventors fumbled with different approaches on their way to the Hydrone. At first, they considered a water bottle cannon, or a shirt filled with water, sort of like the mascot t-shirt cannon approach. After multiple humorous ideas, the light bulb flickered and the Hydrone was born.
The design was not technologically sound at first. “The best way we came up with was to attach a water bottle to the drone and have a hose coming down and let the athlete drink from it directly,” said senior, Andrew Smith.
The inventors believe with updated water bottle designs the Hydrone can provide up to five hoses linked to the levitating watering hole. With advanced drone technology, a stabilizer could be implemented in order to combat against harsh winds or bad weather. Maybe in the future the drone could be used to bring some locals on an island some tropical drinks … just a thought.
But I am sure you are thinking, “How can this high flying, bladed drone not be a safety hazard?”
La Jolla had the same thought and implemented propeller guards to keep player’s fingers from getting caught in it, and designed the drone to avoid landing on someone as well. “We have a system where, if you pull too hard on the hose, the hose just detaches and the drone won’t come crashing down on you,” said Smith. “Don’t go grab the thing. That’s really it.”
The team’s inventors, Smith and senior, Thomas Miralles, have already started the patenting process as the two are headed off to college, but hope to keep the dream of seeing their drone in a major professional league.“It would be crazy to think that our crazy high school idea would come to this huge stage and be something that would be implemented worldwide.”
The two imagine the Hydrone could be used by all sports teams in the near future, but it is not ready for use on athletic fields yet. After taking the product back to CamelBak, the company acknowledged the possibility of use in the future, but are not ready for something this “revolutionary”.
For now, the Hydrone will be flying in water during practices, avoiding heads and beeping and booping into the future of sport hydration.