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U-CAT Robotic Sea Turtle Set To Explore Shipwrecks

Posted by samzenpus on from the dive-time dept.

Zothecula writes "When was the last time you heard about a sea turtle getting stuck in a shipwreck? Never, that's when. Although that's partly because stuck turtles rarely make the news, it's also due to the fact that they're relatively small and highly maneuverable. With that in mind, the European Union-funded ARROWS project has created U-CAT – a prototype robotic sunken-ship-exploring sea turtle."

12 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. Aaahhhh - it looks cute! by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    More like a bath toy than a research sub

    1. Re:Aaahhhh - it looks cute! by robthebloke · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hopefully when the tech has matured and mutated for 15 years or so, it'll be swimming in sewers. I imagine it will have developed a love of renaissance artists by them....

    2. Re:Aaahhhh - it looks cute! by weilawei · · Score: 2

      Technology for sewer monitoring is incredibly difficult. Active componentry, and even passive componentry tends to fail at an alarming rate due to being immersed in a chemical soup of practically arbitrary composition.

    3. Re:Aaahhhh - it looks cute! by nospam007 · · Score: 2

      "Technology for sewer monitoring is incredibly difficult. Active componentry, and even passive componentry tends to fail at an alarming rate due to being immersed in a chemical soup of practically arbitrary composition."

      Obviously they must be fixed on top of the sewer crocodiles.

    4. Re:Aaahhhh - it looks cute! by camperdave · · Score: 1

      ... due to being immersed in a chemical soup of practically arbitrary composition.

      The sort of chemical soup that might, um... mutate.. a turtle in a sewer?

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  2. It's Turtles by weilawei · · Score: 5, Funny

    All the way down.

  3. I for one .... by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    I for one welcome ... ah, forget it.

  4. It won't work without some modifications.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Real sea turtles have their shell covering the working edges of their flippers - if stuck, they can pull them into/under the shell to clear them of obstructions.

    This thing will get stuck on any kind of vertical string - whether it be a kelp strand, or wire. And it can't pull its fins out of the way.

  5. Ha! by rotorbudd · · Score: 1

    When I first glanced at the title I saw : US Robotics.

    They gonna run a POTS line to the ocean floor?

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it, but artillery is addressed to " Whom It May concern"
  6. 4 Winged Jellyfish by SternisheFan · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Nature is so amazing, and continues to inspire us. For those who haven't seen the four winged jellyfish... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boxeUaFl3R8

  7. Just Curious by rmdingler · · Score: 1

    Has the anthropomorphization/zoomorphization of robotics aided the technology's development by taking advantage of evolutionary designs or has it been saddled with this rather human propensity to do so? Both?

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  8. When? by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 3, Interesting
    When was the last time you heard about a sea turtle getting stuck in a shipwreck? Never, that's when.

    When was the last time a sea turtle ever reported to a human that they were trapped in a shipwreck? Never, that's when, and that's why you've never heard about a sea turtle getting stuck in a shipwreck. It's not that it doesn't happen, its that it's never reported due do the fact that turtles and people don't speak the same language...

    --
    Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.