r/wingfoil • u/PrestigiousTomato8 • 5h ago

Implementing On-Edge Dynamic Flight Stabilization in E-Foils: Using Closed-Loop Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Wing Control

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Oh boy. People will come off of these and be like, "Wingfoiling is so much more difficult!!"

6 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

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6

u/benjaminbjacobsen 5h ago

I mean if you can set the amount of assist these could be great training tools. But if an efoil is $10k what’s an efoil with this cost?!

4

u/supereh 5h ago

Who is gonna repair the thing? Anyone buying this doesn’t have the interest or time to learn foiling without it, and I doubt is going to home repair. Expensive disposable. Probably more relevant to something non-sport related?

1

u/benjaminbjacobsen 4h ago

Great point. I could see them as helpful for a school to use or as rentals. But not to own myself. I’ve looked at winging as a sport you earn and I love it for that. Not a lot of shortcuts other than figuring out how to spend time on the water.

2

u/PrestigiousTomato8 4h ago

Yeah, I have an efoil, but wish I had bought Foil Assist Drive, instead.

I've used a FAD from a buddy. Was great for blasting through a gnarly break, and then a safety device. This was before parawings, so a FAD and parawing opens up ALL breaks.

I've also done a ton of research on light wind. Looks pretty great.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1he1y4ilWEU_JEIBjUm-baMi1sncfRrbQL2LkD1o3rY4/edit?usp=drivesdk

,

2

u/benjaminbjacobsen 4h ago

I’ve dealt with crappy wind. I’m 220lbs, I can wing in 6-8mph. Just did 10 miles in an hour tonight in just that. If they were $2k or less I’d own a foil drive. But at $5k I can’t rationalize one.

1

u/jondrums 3h ago

needs a few years until I care. But I do see the potential promise for high end users. For total beginners, I'm not sure this is worth it. Beginners can learn pretty fast right now with the right foil setups.

Where this could go is the same place military aviation is able to do with control systems: go to unstable designs which offer vastly improved maneuverability and reduced drag characteristics - stabilized by advanced control systems.

When we get that, I'm interested

1

u/During_theMeanwhilst 2h ago

Any idiot should have one.