Swimming Robot Reaches Australia After Record-Breaking Trip 72
A reader writes "A self-controlled swimming robot has completed a journey from San Francisco to Australia. The record-breaking 9,000 nautical mile (16,668km) trip took the PacX Wave Glider just over a year to achieve. Liquid Robotics, the U.S. company behind the project, collected data about the Pacific Ocean's temperature, salinity and ecosystem from the drone. The company said its success demonstrated that such technology could 'survive the high seas.' The robot is called Papa Mau in honor of the late Micronesian navigator Pius 'Mau' Piailug, who had a reputation for finding ways to navigate the seas without using traditional equipment. 'During Papa Mau's journey, [it] weathered gale-force storms, fended off sharks, spent more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef, and finally battled and surfed the east Australian current to reach his final destination in Hervey Bay, near Bundaberg, Queensland,' the company said in a statement. Some of the data it gathered about the abundance of phytoplankton -plant-like organisms that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and provide food for other sea life -could already be monitored by satellite. However, the company suggested that its equipment offered more detail, providing a useful tool for climate model scientists."
not more boat people (Score:2, Funny)
Not another illegal arrival from overseas, we get enough of those already! :-)
Swimming is a new way to do it though, most use boats...
Re:not more boat people (Score:5, Funny)
pronounciation (Score:3, Informative)
Re:pronounciation (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you, but what makes you think "aussies" are pronouncing it correctly?
I mean, it would be a first.
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The "Humpty Dumpty defense". (Score:3)
I like that. It is the classiest way of saying 'I'll pronounce it however I want. Now fuck off.'
Technically that is known as the humpty dumpty defense. Having said that I'm also an Aussie and agree with the OP on the pronounciation of an Australian place name, because we are Aussies we may have local knowledge that you lack, so it would be unfair to classify the GP's post as a humpty dumpty defense.
A much better translation would be "Fuck off tourist".
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There are regional pronunciations of localities such as Jervis Bay, Launceston, Cairns, Lalor, Reservoir.
Castlemaine, VIC and Newcastle, NSW both have 'Castle' in their name but are likely to be pronounced differently either side of the Murray.
Then there's derby/darby, which is what the 'Hervey' debate is about. Many Aussies would pronounce it , "incorrectly", as Her-V
Which is what happens when you name places after obscure 18thC British noblemen with non-phonetic names.
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Nonetheless, 'Harvey' Bay it is.
It's really quite common for place names not to be said the way they 'look', even when the same word/name/phoneme in other contexts, in the same language and dialect, is commonly pronounced a different way.
And that is the case all over the world. Lots of examples in the UK obviously, but also in the US. Mobile, AL springs to mind. Or the state of Arkansas.
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Lucky bastard ... I don't suppose if I went to Australia women would suddenly find a Canadian irresistable (eh)?
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Are you kidding? Of course they'd find you irresistible. The common Australian accent is no easier on the ears of Australian women than it is on ours.
Re:pronounciation (Score:4, Funny)
In New Zealand they say that Australian women have the best sense of humour in the world and continually prove it by marrying Australian men.
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The best way to use the accent if you have it is to have their attention first without saying anything, wait a moment (half a second to a second - enough to let them make assumptions subconsciously) while looking at them with a smile that is probably better a grin than a cheesy smile. Then le
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*furiously takes notes* ;-)
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Who are aow-sees?
Re:pronounciation (Score:5, Funny)
Got it.
Re:pronounciation (Score:4, Funny)
'Varbie'.
Got it.
No, numbnuts... it's 'barbie' with a 'v'.
I.e., 'bvrbie.'
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We use a lot of food names differently, for example papaya are called pawpaw, which is apparently really a fruit indigenous to the Ozark Mountains and whose name we got from the gold miners from California who came to Victoria and New South Wales 150 years ago. And so because papayas are universally called
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No wonder I don't feel very full after eating "Shrimp on the Barbie" here at Outback in the states :) They've been holding out on us, eating all the prawns themselves. Bastards!
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Bundy is not rum. It is an abomination in the sight and taste of both god & man.
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Bundy is not rum. It is an abomination in the sight and taste of both god & man.
Ah! So it's better than rum.
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Can't think of Bundy Rum without thinking about Rich Hall's take on the stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkH5_aGRC8g [youtube.com]
"'holy shit this is liquid crack, what the fuck are you lookin' at? Come over here and I will beat you like a drum"
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battled and surfed the east Australian current to reach his final destination in Hervey Bay, near Bundaberg
? Many are the times that my final destination has been near Bundaberg, if I remember correctly?!?
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Sure, but is it anywhere near near Tullamore, Seymour, Lismore, Maroochydore,
Kilmore, Nambour, Moolimbah, Birdsville, Emmaville, Wallaville, Cundamunda,
Cundabine, Strathpine, Prosapine, Ulladulla, Darwin, Gin Gin, Deniliquin, Muckadilla,
Emmaville, Kullavilla, Moree, Taree, Jarildabee, Banbawa, Toowoomba, Gunnedah,
Gurringbah, Woolloomooloo, Dalvin, Tambourin, Engadine, Jindabyne, Lithgow,
Casino, Brigalow, Narabine, Megalong, Wyalong, Oolong, Orgathella, Morella,
Indapella, Whyalla, Dandenong, Woodabong, Balla
Gilligan... (Score:2, Funny)
Fended off sharks? (Score:1)
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frickin' lazers
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I was wondering the same thing, sounds like market/journalist/dumbass-speak. Sensationalism sells to morons.
bloody immigrants (Score:1)
Hey robot f*ck off we're full!
STRAYA C*NT
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STOP THE BOTS!
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Hahaha, mod AC parent up...good one.
So much for Australia.. (Score:3, Funny)
progress for whom? (Score:2)
They wrote a song about Papa Mau (Score:2)
Of course, there was some other distracting lyrics about another woman named Elvira [youtube.com], too.
(if you didn't have to see the video to get that joke, you're getting gray like me!)
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I figure if the operator was a youngin' he probably wouldn't get the humor in labeling the speed dial "Giddy-up".
why no mention of the recording on the robot? (Score:1)
This is where James Gosling went (Score:5, Informative)
James Gosling, of Java, Display Postscript, Gosling Emacs, and other fames is the chief software architect an Liquid Robotics.
Great little piece of technology (Score:5, Informative)
This is another Liquid Robotics [liquidr.com] Wave Glider. It's a simple, clever propulsion idea, which is well-explained on the web site. The only powered mechanical part is a rudder. A GPS provides position, solar panels provide power for the electronics, and an Iridium satellite link provides command and control. It's about the size of a surfboard.
Performance is surprisingly good. Wave gliders have been sent from Hawaii to California, then up to Alaska and back. It can generally stay within 50 meters of the desired track. It's too small and light to hurt anything operating in open ocean. The Coast Guard classifies it as "floating debris", so it doesn't have to show lights.
It's also useful when you simply want to park an instrument package in one location. It's much easier than anchoring a buoy in deep water. They had one in Monterey Bay for months, making small circles to stay in one area.
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not fully autonomous then? (Score:1)
just keep swimming (Score:2)