Damn you philip! ;-). I really didn't want to get into this but this is really interesting stuff:

So, #6, I think they're basically looking to see if they can use a pressure sensor to shift gears on the cyclists stations (assuming this was TNZ). The pressure sensor would read the hydraulic pressure that they've accumulated and adjust the gearing on the bikes accordingly. Higher pressures, lower gears. In addition, by using that pressure sensor to directly control flow from one or more accumulators, they can stage the accumulators so some are automatically low pressure accumulators and some are high. I've often wondered if they run two (or more) hydraulic pressure systems on the boat...some motions need low pressure high volume of flow and other need high pressure low volume flow. It would SUCK to be peddling like hell to get the tippy-top of pressure built up in the accumulator but then lose all that pressure with a big vertical board motion that took a ton of oil but didn't really need much pressure. The measurement committee basically said that any gear shifting had to be performed manually and referred back to 15.1 that does allow for some automatic pressure control devices - but it's limited to a few specific device types.

#70 is complicated and fascinating. What a terrific and clear response by the measurement team too. It basically says the earlier suggestion of having a tablet with dots moving on it and an operator just following those dots is ILLEGAL. The feedback systems and the control systems have to be physically AND electrically isolated and that is not isolated. It does say that they could have TWO tablets with one above showing the correct position for the fingers and the operator touching a second tablet in response to what the first one was telling him - but they could not be on the same device.

#72 is similar to #70 but is fishing for the exact level of what is considered "manual input". The measurement committee again had a very clear response and drew the line at attaching electrodes to peoples hands and having the computer shock them to make involuntary finger movements to push buttons....seriously. That was one of the questions. ;-)


I really don't think there are any magic bullets in there except that #70 actually says the "follow the dot" thing that was suggested that Ashby was doing is clearly NOT permitted. The data systems and control systems are required to be clearly labeled and completely isolated from each other. It looks like a solid approach to keep computers from driving the boats.