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Where's Waldo (the Submarine)?

Posted by timothy on from the keep-an-eye-out dept.

stoolpigeon writes "Scientists on Florida's Gulf Coast are trying to find an underwater robot that has mysteriously vanished. The robot from the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota has been missing since Monday. The robot, which cost about $100,000, was equipped with a detector to find red tide, a toxic algae bloom. The detector was valued at another $30,000. Scientists aren't sure what happened to the robot, which is nicknamed Waldo."

18 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. For Future Reference... by istartedi · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...quit naming stuff "Waldo". You won't have this problem.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:For Future Reference... by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 4, Funny

      They could have gone with the original idea and called it Hoffa...

      --
      http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
    2. Re:For Future Reference... by palegray.net · · Score: 3, Funny

      Obligatory response.

      --
      512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    3. Re:For Future Reference... by maugle · · Score: 4, Funny

      Could've been worse. Could've named it "Carmen Sandiego".

    4. Re:For Future Reference... by Louis+Savain · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ha ha. Old timer. Played with Fortran or COBOL lately?

    5. Re:For Future Reference... by BACPro · · Score: 4, Funny

      Waldo is one of a treo of subs.
      The others are named Nemo and Carmen.

    6. Re:For Future Reference... by i_liek_turtles · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh, come on, it can't be that hard to find a red and white striped robot.

  2. Hrmm by Kratisto · · Score: 5, Funny

    You'd think it would be pretty easy to find a red and white striped submarine; though I guess it's currently surrounded by hundreds of other submarines, some of which are painted red and white.

    --
    Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
    1. Re:Hrmm by Fiddlingfrog · · Score: 3, Funny

      Only the one with a bobble hat and glasses is the real sub.

  3. Fish Story by Cassini2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Catching a submarine ... that would be the ultimate fish story!

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Better links by mjensen · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/9/5/where39s_waldo_the_answer_could_net_you_500.html
    and
    http://www.mote.org/index.php?src=news&submenu=NEWS&srctype=detail&category=Newsroom&refno=295

    $500 reward for finding it....

  6. What did they expect? by ShooterNeo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The submarine is self guided, with no tether, and runs on batteries. The sea is a very harsh environment...one has to expect to lose a few. $100,000 isn't really that much money, and I suspect that there recovery efforts will be fairly limited.

    1. Re:What did they expect? by ShooterNeo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How much do you think it costs per day to send a ship out to look for the robot submarine?

  7. Re:Tether? by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

    2009 called. They want the time they lost reading your posts back.

  8. Re:Locate using GPS ? by BungaDunga · · Score: 3, Informative

    Water absorbs the radio waves you need to use to triangulate your position, so GPS doesn't work underwater. They put GPS tags on whales and things, but they only work when the whale surfaces.

  9. Re:Locate using GPS ? by dangitman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Though even if it did, being batter powered would make it useless if the batteries are drained.

    It's a robotic submarine, not a deep-fried fish. Although I can understand the confusion.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  10. Re:Tether? by mibus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    2009 called. They want THEIR SUBMARINE back :)