Enhance

The Hydronalix E.M.I.L.Y. will enhance the profession of lifesaving because it will make rescues more efficient. With the ability to travel up to 40 kilometers per hour, E.M.I.L.Y. is ten times quicker than the fastest lifeguard making it possible to reach swimmers in distress earlier, creating a greater chance of saving their lives.  With this extra efficiency it will be possible to save more lives when a large group of people are in distress. With its ability to tow someone at its top speed of 40 kilometers an hour, E.M.I.L.Y. can retrieve swimmers and bring them back to the beach quicker. This enables the victims to receive medical attention, such as CPR, faster that if a lifeguard had to manually paddle back to shore.

E.M.I.L.Y. is fitted with a camera, screen and microphone, to enable the lifeguard on the beach to communicate with, and give instructions to, the victims. This will stop the swimmer panicking and they will be able to understand that E.M.I.L.Y. is there to rescue them. The ability to stop the swimmer panicking is one very important component of E.M.I.L.Y. because when swimmers panic, they thrash around and scream, which pushes them deeper where they will swallow more water.

Currently, E.M.I.L.Y. is set on patrol in deeper waters so it is able to reach swimmers in distress faster. With the ability to patrol at 8 kilometers an hour for over eight and a half hours, E.M.I.L.Y. is able replace lifeguards patrolling on Jet-skis and enable them to focus on the water from the beach. 

Retrieve

Lifesaving technologies first began in the early 19^th century with the idea of a ‘human chain’. Lifeguards would link arms in order reach struggling swimmers in deep water. Needless to say, this idea was not very successful and soon it was replaced with the life buoy and rope technique. When a swimmer was in distress, a lifeguard would toss a life buoy, connected to a rope, into the surf for the swimmer to hold onto and would tow them in to shore by pulling on the rope. This idea was partially successful but was soon outdated when the line and surf-reel technique was introduced. This machine consisted of a reel mounted on the beach which had a line connected to floatation device. The lifeguards would toss the device to the swimmer and then was able to use the machine to reel in the line, towing the swimmer to safety.

Following the formation of the Royal Surf Life Saving Society in England in the late 19^th century, many new rescue and resuscitation methods were created to make lifesaving more efficient.  Rescue tubes were introduced in place of line and surf-reels in the 1960s, along with rescue boards. Small motor powered boats followed in their stride.

As technology progressed lifesaving became increasingly more efficient and required less manpower. The introduction of Jet Ski’s in the late 20^th century truly made lifesaving technologically advanced. In a modern day situation, a beach would have lifeguards manning a central tower with men also patrolling the beach and on Jet-skis in the water. Larger beaches sometimes have helicopters patrolling from above in the summer months.

E.M.I.L.Y. uses several different aspects from past lifesaving technologies. It draws on the simple idea of throwing a floatation device to a struggling swimmer in order for them to be towed ashore but combines it with the concept of being operated by an impellor (a device that pulls in and pushes out water to make itself move), like a jet ski. E.M.I.L.Y. adds its own technology to the mix, such as its sonar, microphone, camera and screen making it yet another lifesaving technology, created on the simple foundations its predecessors.  

Obsolesce

Due to it’s efficiency the introduction of E.M.I.L.Y. will reduce the need for many lifeguards. This will negate jobs for a large amount of lifeguards and they will have to find work elsewhere. In largely populated beach areas, where many lifeguards are needed to patrol the various beaches, this may affect the economy if a large amount of lifeguards have to move away to find work.

E.M.I.L.Y. may reduce the amount of people who go to beaches. Some may not feel comfortable with knowing that if they were to come to trouble that a robot, not a person, will be sent to save them. This may also affect the confidence of those who participate in popular water sports such as surfing or kite boarding, which may cause these sports to be avoided. E.M.I.L.Y. will affect businesses that work off beachgoers such as snack vendors and surf shops, which will causes further job loss and once again affect the economy. 

E.M.I.L.Y. will also obsolete the need for Jet-skis. With E.M.I.L.Y. manning deep-water patrols solo, lifeguards can focus more of their energy from the beach, as opposed to patrolling on Jet-skis in the water. With the average price of a new jet ski ranging anywhere from $6000 to $15 000, they are much more expensive than buying an E.M.I.L.Y., which in comparison is only $3500, and are predicted to drop in price by the next model. 

Reverse

When E.M.I.L.Y. becomes more advanced (it is predicted that the next model will be able to be self-operated and will be able to sense struggling swimmers, propel itself into the water and find its way to them by using a sonar that finds disruptions in water patterns) it will negate the need for many lifeguards which will cause a loss of jobs. Eventually, E.M.I.L.Y. will be completely relied on to complete rescues. This has potential to backfire, as E.M.I.L.Y. is not yet able to reach down and grab swimmers or rescue unconscious citizens who are unable to hold on to E.M.I.L.Y. without assistance, which a lifeguard could have potentially prevented.

If this, or any other malfunction occurs, and E.M.I.L.Y. is recalled from use during lifesaving, there will not be a large amount of lifeguards to patrol beaches, as many would have had to find other work. This may cause beaches to be unmanned until more lifeguards are trained, meaning that if any swimmer were to get caught in a riptide or undertow there would be no one to help them.