Laane answers- ampelmann

Laane,
Wat is an ampelmann?

The ampelmann is the little man on the trafficlights in Berlin.
It shows when you can cross the street.

The most recent meaning of the word has to do with stepping from one side to another too.
At sea.

You know the windmills in sea?
When they need repair, someone goes there by boat, steps over and then repair the windmill.

You can understand that that's not possible when it's bad weather.
The waves would smash the boat against the windmill.

Now it's impossble to do repairs 20% of the time.

That can be reduced to 5% by using the same system that is used in flightsimulators, but upside down. So the stable part is on top, enabling the repairman to step over from ampelmann to windmill and back.

The use of the system is the idea of some researchers at the TU Delft, The Netherlands.