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Finally ... RoboShark!

Noryungi writes "Cousteau's grandson has built a robotic replica of a great white shark to better observe these animals in their natural environment. The robot-slash-submarine is able to mingle with the great white, and not draw their attention, thanks to a closed-circuit pneumatic propulsion system and cleverly disguised cameras. Do not miss the nice pictures next to the Wired article. Let the Dr Evil joke begin!"

31 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Veggie Boy by fembots · · Score: 5, Funny

    It will probably be teased for being a vegetarian too.

    However the scariest part is when the real sharks kidnaps this roboshark, and one of them disguises and returns to the base...

  2. Oh gee thanks... by DarkHelmet · · Score: 5, Funny
    Let the Dr Evil joke begin!

    Good one Noryungi! I'm sure there were tons of us slashdotters who were saving up their wit and creativity for a post like this.

    I imagine there are slashdotters out there who have mountains of In Soviet Russia, Old Korean People, Sharks with Friggin Lasers, goatse, and Microsoft Trolls just WAITING to be unleashed. It's been a long time since we could use the Sharks with Friggin Lasers troll/joke, so this would have been a perfect story to use it...

    But what do you do? You give the goahead for us to make the joke! You killed the surprise! You made all those trolls out there look... *gasp* unoriginal! This will not stand!

    Now, all those posts will be -1 Troll instead of +5 Funny! You killed slashdot culture! You bastard! Timothy, quick! Do something! Censor him! Anything!

    ----

    On another note... the article tickled me to no end as Cousteau referred to the shark kind of like a "retarded cousin from Australia." I wonder what the Aussies have to say about this. How about a comment there, Steve Irwin? Too busy with that crockie? No worries.

    --
    /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
    1. Re:Oh gee thanks... by Infinityis · · Score: 5, Funny

      What the heck, I've got karma to burn!

      In Soviet Russia, Old Korean Sharks with Friggin Lasers goatse you!

    2. Re:Oh gee thanks... by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 4, Funny

      So, are you saying that, in order to be modded as 'funny', people are actually going to have to be funny, and not just repeat an age-old slashdot horseburger?

      Bullshit.

  3. Dr. Evil? How 90's! Try Sealab 2021 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "My dad put his robot penis in my mom's shark vagina!"

  4. Frickin' sharks... go the Dolphins! by Audent · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Forget your namby pamby laser-free sharks.

    You want one of these!

    http://www.innespace.com/

    sweeeeeeet.

    --
    I am a leaf on the wind
  5. 1,200 pounds by maotx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes, but does it come with a freakin' laserbeam mounted on its head?

    "It's extremely innovative" said Cousteau. "It's a 1,200-pound tool that looks, feels and moves like a great white shark."

    1,200 pounds is pretty big no matter how you look at it. And on top of that it moves with no engine noise or bubbles. It pushes through a 120-cubic-foot cylinder to move.
    This definatly sounds like an improvement from the robotic shark used in the Jaws movies. I hate to be the one stuck filming with the thing if it malfunctions.

    However, if the sub goes kablooey, Cousteau can eject through an escape hatch in the shark's head.

    Only to be eaten by a hungry Great White.*

    *One would be suprised how the Great White is really looked at competely the wrong way. The reason for the wrap of the bad name (besides Jaws) is the problem with their way of satisfying their curiousity. As humans have a habit of touching things they are curious about with their fingers sharks satisfy it by biting. Their bite is meant only as a touch but with thousands of razor sharp teeth it can also be deadly. I've seen divers who swim with full size (17 feet) Great Whites without a cage and escape harmless.

    --
    I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.
    1. Re:1,200 pounds by sTalking_Goat · · Score: 3, Informative
      As humans have a habit of touching things they are curious about with their fingers sharks satisfy it by biting.

      The one I've always heard is that if you get attacked by a Great White its probably because they've mistaken you for a Seal. Sharks supposedly don't like the tatste of human much, and don't actually eat the parts they've bitten off.Though that doesn't make you any less dismembered.

      That might be apocryphal though, so don't quote me.

      --

      My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...

    2. Re:1,200 pounds by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sharks supposedly don't like the tatste of human much

      And they hate, hate, zombies.

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
    3. Re:1,200 pounds by H0NGK0NGPH00EY · · Score: 4, Funny

      I've seen divers who swim with full size (17 feet) Great Whites without a cage and escape harmless.

      Yeah, I can imagine that most humans would be pretty harmless lying in a hospital bed.

      --
      Do not read this sig.
    4. Re:1,200 pounds by flyingsquid · · Score: 4, Funny
      Yeah, I can imagine that most humans would be pretty harmless lying in a hospital bed.

      Maybe it's a typo, and he meant "escape armless".

  6. Yummy! by WerewulfX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Crunchy on the outside, humanie on the inside!

  7. In other news by NIK282000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cousteau's grandson was eaten. The suits manufacturer says that the wearing of the suit and being ingested by another animal is purely conicidental.

    --
    Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
  8. salsa robo-shark by merc · · Score: 4, Funny

    Man goes into cage, cage goes into salsa, shark's in the salsa, robo shark.

    --
    It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
  9. Tintin jokes by mollyhackit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think Tintin jokes would be more worthwhile. Red Rackham's Treasure here we come!

  10. Better article from Apple.com by jberkom · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...not likely to slow down much either.

    http://www.apple.com/pro/video/cousteau/

  11. Shark People, Shark People by crlove · · Score: 5, Funny

    Looks like shark, tastes like people.

  12. Generalization by ChodeMonkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is a great idea that should be generalized to allow humans to more easily observe nature (both in and out of the water) without the interference of cameras and trucks/boats etc.

    Although I have not seen it I have heard that such a stunt was portrayed in some Jim Carey Pet Detective movie to the delight of potty humorists everywhere (I look forward to seeing it myself some day :).

    It would also be a riot if other alien species do this type of thing to observe humans. Bump into someone on the street and a camera falls out of their mouth and all kinds of alien cursing starts coming from within the guy's body.

    --
    All your attention are belong to my old internet meme.
  13. Tehcnically speaking... by Infinityis · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...Cousteau referred to the shark kind of like a 'retarded cousin from Australia.'"

    Wouldn't that make it a not-so-great white shark?

    1. Re:Tehcnically speaking... by teneighty · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wouldn't that make it a not-so-great white shark?

      You mean Greg Norman?

  14. 2021 by Giddeon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fabien Cousteau: "I took nature's most perfect killing machine, and needlessly turned it into a robot!"

  15. Favorite Quote by bleckywelcky · · Score: 3, Funny

    From TFA:

    Since Troy cannot respond in a sophisticated, sharklike manner, Cousteau decided that while the great whites do buy that he's a shark, they consider him more like a "retarded cousin from Australia."

  16. That third camera... by CatGrep · · Score: 4, Funny

    The third camera records Cousteau's behavior inside the sub.

    Is this one there so they can make a documentary about marine biologists at the same time as they make the one about the sharks?

  17. prey's response by whovian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Take dolphins for example. I just gegoogelt and found that white shark prey on dolphins, so it seems reasonable that dolphins would use their echolocation to sense the presence of "shark". I wonder what this faux shark would sonar like.
    (hopefully not chicken! :P )

    --
    To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  18. Attach cameras Fabien! by xbsd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    " Spielberg could have saved himself a lot of money filming "Jaws" if this thing had existed then and been at all realistic. I'll bet Grade B movie producers are scrambling over themselves to offer to rent this thing."

    This thing swims like a shark but does not bite like a shark, so is not ready for the movies.

    Now, I don't know much about aquatic life, but wouldn't be cheaper if, instead of mimicking sharks with a robot, they just attach three remora-like cameras to a real shark?.

    1. Re:Attach cameras Fabien! by Famanoran · · Score: 5, Funny

      Do you want to volunteer to attach these cameras to a shark?

  19. What about electricity... by rips123 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    AFAIK sharks (like sting rays) are extremely sensitive to electric fields. They are so sensitive in fact that there were some shark repellant devices a few years back that basically just periodically zapped the water at a voltage level that wasn't noticed by people but scared off sharks. How then, can this mechanical device with electronic cameras in it fool a shark into acting naturally when its giving off a strange electric field signature?

    1. Re:What about electricity... by Quixote · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not to mention the kerchunk-kerchunk of large cylinders hammering away inside. Since sound carries in water so well, not only will it look like the retarded cousin from Australia, it will sound like the "retarded cousin from Australia with a bad case of gas".

  20. Ace Ventura / grandson of Jacque Cousteau by craXORjack · · Score: 4, Informative

    A submarine that looks like a Great White Shark?
    Why does this sound so familiar to me?
    I guess it's true that great minds think alike.

    --
    Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
  21. A natural predator for... by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Interesting
    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  22. Re:GWS are not very heard oriented species by Furmy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Heard?
    Herd?

    Fish would be a school.
    But I don't even know if it would be "school of shark" or "school of sharks".

    Crows get to be called a murder.

    And after some imagining, I wouldn't know how to even START naming a Beowulf Cluster of Robot Sharks.