Photo: Steward Cook/Barcroft Media/Landov
The orange object patrolling the surf is E.M.I.L.Y. the lifeguard robot. The floating cylinder, which can speed through the water at up to 40 kilometers per hour to reach drowning swimmers and can tug as many as four people to shore, is operated by remote control.











Willie Jones
Willie Jones is an associate editor at IEEE Spectrum. In addition to editing and planning daily coverage, he manages several of Spectrum's newsletters and contributes regularly to the monthly Big Picture section that appears in the print edition.
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