Robotic Gliders Soar Underwater

zymano writes "Yahoo has this tech news on ocean gliders that can go on journeys for hundreds of miles and last for weeks using pumps that push ballast water in and out to subtly change their buoyancy. This enables them to alternately rise and fall through the ocean as they glide forward. Oh , $60,000 if you want one." See our previous stories for more information.

Comments

Re:story in today's globe...

[Anonymous Coward]

WARNING! do not copy/paste that link into your browser! If you accidently type in "goatse.cx", it will show you a very disturbing picture!

Thanks a lot, asshole! My boss just walked by. Now I'll probably get fired, or sent to sexual harrassment classes, or invited to play strip poker with the boss!

Re:Imagine the possibilities

[fnj]

I am getting the impression that the effect of the delayed action bomb that is Iraq blowing up in our face may stifle the impulse to invade elsewhere.

Customizing for Imports vs. risk

[billstewart]

Yup. They're probably pretty customizable - the articles tend to price them as $50-75K for non-mass-produced, and you could probably add an extra 20 kilos of cargo capacity without overly trashing the battery life. I'm not sure the current wholesale prices for cocaine, but if it's $10/gram for delivered to the US (as opposed to $1/gram in Colombia), you could about pay for the sub on its first trip, and definitely PROFIT on the later trips.

On the other hand, during the 80s disco years, the profit on importing coke was in the $1-10M per Cessna-load range, so you could afford to lose half your shipments, and there were plenty of pilots willing to risk a few years in jail for a share of the profits if they win. The profit margin's probably not still 90%, but that's mostly because it's so easy for the importers; even at 50% you can lose almost half your shipments, so as long as you've got enough capital to risk losing a couple of containerloads before one gets through, your real problem becomes making reliable connections with distributors and not getting ripped off on delivery.