| Ho-hum swimming robot |
| Written by Dave Burdick | ||
| Tuesday, 18 April 2006 | ||
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Man, you can't swing a data-obsessed scientist anymore without hitting a data-gathering robot of some kind.  A "robot" named Spray is "swimming" from Greenland to Spain, sending daily e-mail updates to its fleshen masters, who can adjust its course via the things GPS receiver. Ooh, a data-gathering robot with a GPS receiver. How creative. Okay yeah, it's cool that this robot will be gathering data on salinity, temperature and other things to keep tabs on the ocean's climate, but it's a little creepy that the scientists in charge want to deploy a ton more by 2011 and call them robotic underwater sentinels. Also, am I wrong in saying that it looks a lot more like a missile than a robot? How hard would it have been, Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, if you're already going to the trouble of calling it a robot to give it googly eyes or a square, painted-on mouth? All I'm saying is I wouldn't want to be reaching for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and accidentally grab a torpedo. But what do I know? Via Popular Science.
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Science, technology gadgets and...baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.
And if that sounds interesting to you, then congratulations, you're an EcoGeek.
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