Will O'Brien says Guinness began an in-house research and development team as early as the 1890s.
“they were starting an in-house research and development team as early as the 1890s”
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Will O'Brien
1 episodes · 22 quoted claims
O'Brien says the statistic was published as 'Student's' t-test because Guinness did not want competitors to know it employed researchers.
“that's why it's called the students t-test still to this day because they didn't want anheuser-busch or heineken or other people to know”
O'Brien says Guinness's at-home pour project was first called Project Dynamite and renamed Project Acorn after concerns about shipping parcels labelled dynamite.
“the project was called Project Dynamite. But as you'd imagine in the 1980s, shipping parcels with the word dynamite on it”
O'Brien says the Guinness widget was voted above the internet in a 1990s list of the top 100 inventions of the 20th century.
“the widget was voted above, did you know it was voted above the internet in the 1990s top 100 inventions of the 20th century”
The seven Cs of Guinness quality standards for bars are crafted presentation, consistent freshness, counter visibility, correct gas, correct temperature, clean lines and clean glassware.
“Crafted presentation, consistent freshness, counter visibility, correct gas, correct temperature, clean lines, clean glassware.”
O'Brien says ocean ecosystems are restored at a rate 100 to 1,000 times lower than the rate at which they are lost.
“the rate at which we restore these ecosystems is 100 to 1 ,000 times less the rate we lose them”
O'Brien says seagrass covers about 2% of the seafloor but holds about 20% of the ocean's carbon.
“It covers 2 % of the seafloor, but holds 20 % of the ocean's carbon.”
O'Brien says about 20% of commercially important fish stocks rely on seagrasses as habitat.
“About 20 % of commercially important fish stocks rely on seagrasses as a habitat.”
Ulysses developed an autonomous surface vehicle called Leviathan with a stated range of 2,000 nautical miles.
“we developed this autonomous surface vehicle called Levaithin, 2 ,000 nautical mile range.”
O'Brien says Mako is built from modular blocks, so extra battery packs can add about 150 nautical miles of range.
“if you want to add, let's say, an extra 150 nautical miles of endurance and range, you just add extra battery packs”
O'Brien says humans have mapped more of the surface of Mars than the depths of the ocean.
“we've mapped more of the surface of mars than we have like our our the depths of our ocean”
O'Brien says Ulysses' first vehicle was about 80% off-the-shelf parts and the company is now on its fifth generation.
“the first vehicle has maybe, you know, 80 % pieces off the shelf and we're on like generation five now.”
O'Brien says about 20 million aerial drones are built each year, versus perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 underwater drones.
“there's about 20 million aerial drones built every year. there's maybe 1 ,000 to 2 ,000 underwater drones.”
O'Brien says Ulysses plans to open a facility the following year that could be among the world's largest underwater-drone factories by unit count.
“We will open a facility next year that could be one of the largest by a number of units”
O'Brien says one supplier makes only 100 to 200 of a component per year, far below the few hundred to 1,000 vehicles Ulysses hopes to build.
“and they make like 100 to 200 per annum. There's no way that we're hoping to make a few hundred vehicles next year, maybe 1 ,000.”
O'Brien says underwater acoustic communication can reach roughly 10 kilobytes per second over about five kilometers.
“Yes, you can do like 10 kilobytes per second over like five kilometers.”
O'Brien says Ulysses' vehicle carries about 100 times more onboard compute than other autonomous underwater vehicles, including an NVIDIA 5090 GPU.
“we have around 100 times more onboard compute than any other autonomous underwater vehicle. We run a full like NVIDIA 5090 on board with like an Intel CPU.”
O'Brien says Ulysses won its first U.S. Navy contract and its first offshore wind developer contract in the year before the interview.
“we got our first contract with the U .S. Navy and we got our first contract with an offshore wind developer as well.”
O'Brien says floating offshore wind cables in California attract abandoned fishing lines that can entangle dolphins and whales, and Ulysses is building a system to inspect the cables and cut such lines away.
“you put these power cables in the water, they attract abandoned fishing lines. The fishing lines then are what catch dolphins and whales”
O'Brien says Ulysses can sell its base underwater vehicle for as little as $50,000, versus around $5 million for the U.S. Navy's most common autonomous underwater vehicle.
“we can sell them for the cheapest $50 ,000. For contrast, the most common like autonomous underwater vehicle that the U .S. Navy is buying today is like somewhere on the order of maybe $5 million.”
O'Brien says his first startup was among the first scooter-sharing companies in the UK and Ireland, where he learned to sell to government.
“my my first startup was um kind of the first scooter sharing startup in the uk and ireland”
O'Brien says there are about 200 undersea cables, which are mostly damaged accidentally by anchor drags.
“we have about 200 undersea cables today. And they typically only get taken out by anchor drags accidental for the most part.”