Where's Waldo? Lab Loses Poorly Named Robot
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Waldo, Robot, Mote, Marine, Laboratory
Can you find Waldo? Mote Marine Laboratory can't, and they spent $130,000 on it.
Alright, so some of you might be a tad confused. Waldo is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) owned and since misplaced by the Mote Marine Laboratory. The robot is equipped with a BreveBuster, a device that can automatically detect the presence of red tide in the water. Waldo had been patrolling the waters off Southwest Florida for five days looking for signs of red tide and sending signals to satellites every two hours between August 26 and 31.
Unfortunately for Mote, Waldo stopped responding. BreveBuster designer and Mote scientist Dr. Gary Kirkpatrick said the Laboratory currently has two theories as to Waldo's whereabouts: "It could have had a major leak or malfunction and sank to the bottom and is just sitting there. Or, it could have had a malfunction with its computer or its communication system and is floating on the surface but unable to tell us that it's there."
However, Kirkpatrick is worried that someone may have found the device while boating and taken it, not realizing what it was. This is why Mote is offering a $500 "No-Questions-Asked" reward for the return of the robot.
Mote said in a statement last week that Waldo has been "on the job" since 2005, through a grant from Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Two additional AUVs, Nemo and Carmen, joined the fleet in 2006 through a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Each AUV costs about $100,000, plus another $30,000 to equip it with a red tide detector.
If you have information about Waldo (or know where it is), you should contact Mote on (941) 388-4441 x 271. If not, feel free to insert a "where's Waldo?" joke here.
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$500? Try $10,000 or more lol.
They should have installed an emergency beacon and locator for situations like this.
... hope Nemo doesn't get lost too. Where's Waldo? Finding Nemo?... ... Where in the world is Carmen (Sandiego)???
LOL
I heard about this over the weekend...if someone does find it they have only two choices: keep it or give it back. If they try to sell it I would bet they would be caught and prosecuted.
The Chinese are behind it. (You can substitute Chinese with, N Korean, Iranian, Russian, Mexican, Hippie, Liberals and the Devil)
I heard about this over the weekend...if someone does find it they have only two choices: keep it or give it back. If they try to sell it I would bet they would be caught and prosecuted.
Not if I claimed salvage rights.
If it sank... does that mean someone can claim salvage rights? I'm sure someone could make more money claiming salvage rights than getting a mire $500 reward. The lab would be able to claim ownership, but would be forced to pay for recovery.
"Hey guys.... We spent $130,000 on this thing... maybe we should put a backup locater on it...?"
"NO! Now shut up! Can't you see I'm playing Halo?!"
Seriously calling a AUV Waldo? Maybe safer had they gone with Titanic II.
http://www.explosm.net/comics/409/
Hah, OMG that's just to rich. And then they have another one name Nemo? Guess the next story on this will be "Finding Nemo"
"This is why Mote is offering a $500 "No-Questions-Asked" reward for the return of the robot."
So they give you just $500 and when you ask: "That's it?" they'll tell
you that the "No-Questions-Asked" works both ways.
BTW Jclonts82 you beat me to it
$500? Try $10,000 or more lol.
What value is the machine to you? Your choice is either throw it away (net gain $0) or return it for $500.
I'm no mariner, so I can't say how salvage rights would apply here, but I think if you picked up a floating autonomous research vessel, they'd be more likely to arrest your for stealing than granting you salvage.
Now if only they had installed a beacon on this thing like the one they used on Air France 447's black box, then they could, um..... never mind.
waldo is in my swiming pool
Anyone check Google Earth yet? Ha ha....
Sorry but this is hilarious! ROFLMAO!
Idk where Waldo is, but I found the wizard.
Ok, I get the offering a reward part. And I get they're probably not made of money, obtaining these funds through grants or private "loans" that may or may not have to be paid back...
But $500? For a $130,000 machine? Obviously if some random fisherman finds this and realizes it's worth $130,000, they may take their chances on trying to fence it.
Wheras if they offered say... $5000, or even $3000. Then I'm sure said potential ransomer would find much more incentive to be a good samaritan about the whole thing and just go for the no fuss $3-5k.
$500 is a nice chunk of change sure, but it's not even a mortgage payment, hell barely a monthly car+insurance payment. Give people a reason to turn it into you, and consider it a cheap lesson in redundant locator systems.
By the way, I know for a fact that some people would return this without even asking for ANY reward, but there are far, far more people that would consider ransoming it for as much as they possibly can.
What's the betting some enterprising narcotics smuggler has nabbed it and is, right now, having it reprogrammed to cart drugs from Cuba to Miami? Would be less easy to track than a high-power speedboat.
I hated those books...
Has some redneck used this as a jack stand for their trailer yet?
I hated those books...Has some redneck used this as a jack stand for their trailer yet?
no, but he's probably masturbating with it.
waldo is in my swiming pool
Has it detected red tide?
WALDO was found fifty feet from where he last reported in. Article here
Toms link button failed in my browser
http://www.mote.org/index.php?src= [...] &refno=977