Rutgers Attempts Robot Atlantic Crossing 67
RUCOOL writes "Rutgers University students and staff launched a Slocum glider AUV in an attempt to be the first such vehicle to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Progress so far is good, but it will be a long 6- to 9-month journey. Status as well as other information can be tracked here. Media links can be found in the lower left section of page, among images, and storyline blogs." And Google Earth fans can track the vehicle's progress, too.
In Other News... (Score:4, Funny)
The U.S. Navy has developed autonomous long range torpedo technology. In a completely unrelated article, Rutgers students announce that they have lost all contact with their AUV and have offered no explanation as to why....
Re:In Other News... (Score:5, Funny)
The U.S. Navy has developed autonomous long range torpedo technology. In a completely unrelated article, Rutgers students announce that they have lost all contact with their AUV and have offered no explanation as to why....
"It was worth the risk," said Rutgers spokesman. "No price is too high if it finally gets us out of New Jersey."
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All you need to do is arm that glider, and it is an autonomous long range torpedo.
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Except gliders move at about 1 foot per second. They move through small changes in buoyancy combined with orientation changes.
Makes me think of the scene in Austin Powers, where the steamroller is running over the minions.
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Xcom (Score:5, Funny)
When I saw the google earth map, I had this overwhelming urge to send out subs to intercept it.
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http://rucool.marine.rutgers.edu/atlantic/about_gliders.html [rutgers.edu]
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Arrrrrr... (Score:5, Funny)
Better Headline (Score:5, Funny)
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You've already got +5, but I wanted to say:
That made me laugh out loud, and posts of Slashdot very seldom have that effect.
Scarlet Knight (Score:1)
Re:Scarlet Knight (Score:4, Informative)
Its the universities mascot.
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Perhaps you just don't know the history behind the nam
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Umm... how about... "The Yellow Submarine [wikipedia.org]"?
Or... I mean... Woooshh. ^^
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Re:6-9 months? (Score:5, Informative)
We will soon be exiting the Gulf Stream which means things will start to move a lot slower and many more challenges will be thrust upon us.
from http://rucool.marine.rutgers.edu/atlantic/ [rutgers.edu]
also see here for an explanation of how it moves:
http://rucool.marine.rutgers.edu/atlantic/about_gliders.html [rutgers.edu]
Slocum (Score:4, Funny)
It'll be much better when they invent the "Fastcum" glider. That will probably drop the trip down to 1 month instead of 6-9.
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They made a version like that, but found it less satisfying.
Robots! (Score:3, Funny)
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1175 [phdcomics.com]
Caught in a Net (Score:1)
The Slocum page refers to 'fleets' of these autonomous vehicles being practical because of their low cost. But in any given area of interest, how long before they get caught in a fishing net?
What are the legalities of fishing someone else's autonomous vehicle out of the sea? When can you deem such a thing 'abandoned'?
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Our tuna is Robot Safe [noaa.gov]
What about a payload? (Score:4, Informative)
Y'know, like a few kg of coke.
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"Informative"...only on /. ;p
Though TBH I actually would be surprised if similar things wouldn't be used already, or planned to be used at least.
Unless...it haven't really yet occured to people wishing for covert means of transport, in which case perhaps we should be a bit quiet about it, giving time for means of detection to improve...
I actually was thinking about building small autonomous boat, solar powered, just for fun; guess I decided to keep playing with ground vehicles also until swimming ones will
Robotic 'Firsts' (Score:2)
I think this is going to become a growing phenomena, that of news of what robots can do and are doing. Just imagine it: first robot to cross the Atlantic! It's like Charles Lindbergh all over again. We can have first robot to fly around the world. First robot to climb Everest. First completely robotic hamburger joint (destined to put McDonald's out of business, and several others-- or would McDonald's buy the company). First robot to drive from LA to NY. First robot to reach the North / South pole. First ro
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Robots already fly around the world quite a bit. See Predator, UAV, etc.
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First robot to intentionally kill a human.
First robot to kill a hundred humans.
First robot to single handedly wipe out an entire city of humans.
First robot to kill a human while fueled entirely by the corpses of previous humans it killed.
The list goes on and on!
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Hey, hot mamma! Wanna kill all humans?
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There's already a precedent in the slug-eating robot [google.com]. I don't see any articles later than 2001. My guess is it turned out that making a robot that plucks slugs from your garden without destroying your garden vegetables in the process was harder than it seemed. Obviously the human-eating robot wouldn't have that problem.
I gotta say I'm glad this seemed to go nowhere, and I hope it wasn't picked up by DARPA or something. The guys making Asimo could crack jokes about how it'll become the Terminator and not
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unfortunately they're closer to drones than robots.
They don't make any decisions, they're piloted by undergrads.
Next step WILL be robots, not this one !
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Your intel video chip makes the Baby Jesus cry. Are you using a janky netbook, or just a difference engine? Abacus perhaps?
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I'm using one of the most common motherboards ever made, still widely in use, a P4/2.6 that should easily run Google Earth, like many millions of people are (though none of us can use the latest Ubuntu with GE).
Don't cry, Baby Jesus. Your abacus is miraculous, so it should run GE. Or just go ahead and use the real Earth as your plaything.
Re tasking (Score:5, Interesting)
The small relative cost and the ability to operate multiple vehicles with minimal personnel and infrastructure will enable small fleets of gliders to study and map the dynamic (temporal and spatial) features of subsurface coastal waters around the clock and around the calendar.
The small relative cost and the ability to operate multiple vehicles with minimal personnel and infrastructure will enable large fleets of gliders to transport many small loads of contraband through coastal waters around the clock and around the calendar.
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Re:Re tasking (Score:5, Funny)
You do understand that they operate underwater, right? Mostly, stuff that's underwater is kind of hard to see and even harder to "shoot down."
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You do understand the United States has had a very significant interest in underwater vehicles approaching it's shores, right?
Indeed they do. But I'd imagine these things are pretty quiet.
FTFA:
[...] underwater gliders move around by changing their buoyancy, that is they change their density such that they alternate between more dense and less dense than the surrounding ocean water. This change in buoyancy causes the glider to rise and sink in the ocean. The glider changes its density by moving a small piston forward and back that increases and decreases its volume. You may remember that you can calculate the density of an object by taking its mass and dividing that by the object's volume. Since the mass of the glider remains constant, all we need to do is change its volume. A small change in volume (about a half cup of water) is all the glider needs to change its density enough to rise and sink in the ocean.
I would imagine these things are pretty quiet. Run them about 50 feet underwater and I doubt the government would be able to hear them.
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You do understand the United States has had a very significant interest in underwater vehicles approaching it's shores, right?
Indeed they do. But I'd imagine these things are pretty quiet.
FTFA:
[...] underwater gliders move around by changing their buoyancy, that is they change their density such that they alternate between more dense and less dense than the surrounding ocean water. This change in buoyancy causes the glider to rise and sink in the ocean. The glider changes its density by moving a small piston forward and back that increases and decreases its volume. You may remember that you can calculate the density of an object by taking its mass and dividing that by the object's volume. Since the mass of the glider remains constant, all we need to do is change its volume. A small change in volume (about a half cup of water) is all the glider needs to change its density enough to rise and sink in the ocean.
I would imagine these things are pretty quiet. Run them about 50 feet underwater and I doubt the government would be able to hear them.
Not too quiet. To determine navigation AUVs usually use forms of sonar. That and since this is an "experiment" it should have a pinger - other commercial scientific AUVs do so you can recover if there is a glitch.
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Great. (Score:1)
Who owns it? (Score:5, Interesting)
unmanned seacraft or floating objects are considered flotsam and belong to whoever gets on board or fishes
it out of the water.
Now what happens if somebody helpfully "recovers" this craft and claims a reward for his good deed?
What happens is distinctive (Score:2)
Now what happens if somebody helpfully "recovers" this craft and claims a reward for his good deed?
You don't think robot designers would have thought of that?
Anyone attempting to "collect" it will have their unique technological features added to its own.
TAM - Trans Atlantic Model Airplane Project ? (Score:1)
Oh geezze (Score:2)
The insistence on anthropomorphizing this device on the linked site is just a bit too much. ...she...her... The Scarlet Knight
"This past week we got a nice dose of Scarletâ(TM)s personality when she missed a few of her call in times. During these periods of 'No Comms' or no communication we of course were worried about her but she finally called home to check in. It became evident to us that she is the independent younger sister compared to her older sister RU17. RU17 never hesitated to call us for hel
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Ships are female. It's a very old navy tradition (and they do "cost a lot to keep in powder and paint"). It's perhaps a bit of a stretch to call this a ship, but if it does cross an ocean then I wouldn't argue.
Message in a Bottle (Score:2)
If a dumb plastic bottle can make it [smh.com.au] across the Atlantic, this will too.
A little help here (Score:2)
The Slocum Glider is a uniquely mobile network component capable of moving to specific locations and depths and occupying controlled spatial and temporal grids. Driven in a sawtooth vertical profile by variable buoyancy, the glider moves both horizontally and vertically.
Network component... spatial and temporal grid... sawtooth profile...
Is this some kind of boat, or a time-travelling Skynet overlord ready to kill us all?
Re:In Other News... (Score:1)