The Proteus

January 19, 2007 | Matt Marshall

Meet the Proteus, a new watercraft invented by Ugo Conti, of El Cerrito, Calif.

This spider-like contraption uses inflatable hulls to sit only about a foot deep in the water, and its relatively light weight, long range (5,000 miles) and stability may be used for ocean research, search and rescue, and military applications. (See Mercury News story here).

Three Silicon Valley entrepreneurs invested, including Network Appliances co-founder Dave Hitz, Ezio Valdevit, a fellow at Brocade Communications and Pierluigi Zappacosta, co-founder of Logitech,

Click on the image above to see a video of it in action on the San Francisco Bay. You’ll also hear Conti struggling with the question of what exactly this will be used for. Hmmm.

(Image credit:Gary Reyes/Mercury News)

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.