IBM has teamed up with a non-profit organization that studies the health of estuaries and rivers to create several solar-powered, high-tech, autonomous vehicles for keeping tabs on the health of the Hudson River.
A 315 mile stretch of the river would be constantly monitored by solar-powered submersibles that would then beam data back to a central location for processing by IBM's special software. It's the first system of it's kind, but I've long expected to see this kind of monitoring in all our waterways.
Solar power allows the vehicles to be completely autonomous (as long as their programming is good enough) and they will basically be able to operate on their own for the life of their batteries. The submersible craft was actually built by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Don't be surprised if, in the next fifty years, you start running accross these things in rivers, estuaries, reservoirs, lakes and oceans near you.
Via TreeHugger
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written by weee, September 11, 2007
but I think they might have to camouflage them a bit better!
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written by Eric, September 12, 2007
WHOI is great!! Woods Hole is an awesome village and I live right next door!! Some of my friends actually work there. Soooooooooo much goes on. Their projects are ubiquitous... It's great that one of these projects made it onto my favorite site!
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