A sprinkler system which senses - and compensates for - the wind. This allows the sprinkler to avoid spraying sidewalks, cars, the neighbor, etc.

The 'Ultra' model senses warm bodies and disables the sprinkler head to avoid wetting a person.

Might make for interesting performance art.
-- phoenix, Jun 12 2002

(?) 3-D Holographic Body Scanner http://www.pnl.gov/...ence/01-02/art1.htm
Ask and ye shall receive. [phoenix, Jun 12 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

RapidScan http://www.rapiscan.com/
[phoenix, Jun 12 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) Scarecrow sprinkler http://www.gardensc...pages/Scarecrow.htm
has motion sensor; scares away animals [FarmerJohn, Jun 14 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

What if the person is a braless female wearing a white t-shirt? Shouldn't the sprinkler go into overdrive?
-- thumbwax, Jun 12 2002


Or for a pair of men in black suits with tidy haircuts and religious literature under their arms.
-- FarmerJohn, Jun 12 2002


How would it work? Magic, perchance? If the wind sensors are to detect air movement in the places where the water is going, shirley they would need to be in those places and they could just put the water there, rather than sprinkling it from afar.
-- angel, Jun 12 2002


To centrally sense more than light, varying wind should not be too difficult. If it's blowing hard from the north, the sprinkler would spray harder to the north and let up to the south.
-- FarmerJohn, Jun 12 2002


You're right, of course; I was hoping that the device would respond to mild, localized, zephyric gusts, such as may playfully toss the skirts of passing maids.
-- angel, Jun 12 2002


I'd be interested in a description of the technology that can tell if a woman is wearing a bra. From a purely scientific point of view of course.
-- pottedstu, Jun 12 2002


What about intelligent sprinkles on donuts? The instant they touch your tongue, they assess the taste buds at that particular site on the tongue and transform into the optimal flavour. Nanofun!
-- earl, Jun 12 2002


I suppose you could combine the tractor movement of some current sprinklers and the AI robotics of autonomous lawnmowers into a true smart sprinkler. At least that way it would be mobile and automatically adjust its position for wind compensation. Might be more useful for golf courses and larger lawns when larger area coverage is needed.

Add on options would be the automatic weed targeting and killing option, and of course like [FJ] said the solicitor/neighbor's dog chasing option.
-- dag, Jun 12 2002


[earl] That was Baked by Doug Adams.

[dag] An interesting take. Hook the hose up to a mobile sprayer which in turn trolls around the yard. It's better, in a way, because you could have the spray face down and lose less to evaporation.

The down side would be if you created a mud puddle the mobile unit couldn't work its way out of.
-- phoenix, Jun 12 2002


Is wind really the problem? I think I'd be happier with sprinklers that could be set to cope with more shapes -- the problem often seems to be that people who want to cover a certain area must water a larger circumscribing one because the shape of the sprinkler coverage and the shape of the lawn are different. If you could describe to your sprinkler the area you want to wet, it could adjust its spray accordingly -- circular-area ones, for example, lowering water pressure at certain spots in its arc to change its coverage to an approximate rectangle.
-- Monkfish, Jun 14 2002


No, it's true.
-- Monkfish, Jun 14 2002


The wind adaption could be mechanical, rather than involving sensors. A movable piece pointing the sprinkler would be on the other end of a big piece that gets blown by the wind, rotating the other, pointing end into the opposite direction around a central axis.

[Right, Phoenix, that would point the stream upwind. Isn't that roughly what's needed?]
-- jutta, Jun 14 2002


"You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't sprinkle in the wind..."

[Jutta] Seems like that would just keep the stream pointed upwind.

I'm good with the 'more shapes' idea, but I'd guess that's been baked. Even with non-circular (or to-and-fro) sprinklers, being able to compensate for the wind would reduce waste, accidents and run-off.
-- phoenix, Jun 15 2002



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