The Story To End All Stories

This is my second post today. This story was so good that I just had to pull the trigger. Be sure not to miss End Of The World Update — Mayan Apocalypse 2012 — Dave

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I am not going to stop writing this blog, but I might as well stop because as far as I'm concerned, the story below tells you everything you will ever need to know about the Human Condition. I will never top this story, and anything I might add to it would be superfluous. However, it does help to set the context.  You probably know that—

Global tuna stocks are fast reaching the limits of fishing sustainability, decimated by a lack of comprehensive, science-based catch limits.

Five of the world's eight tuna species are already classified as threatened or nearly threatened with extinction, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In fact, a giant bluefin tuna recently fetched $736,700 in Japan, proving once again that markets are efficient and price discovery always reflects supply & demand.

And now, the story to end all stories — Robotic tuna fish to sniff out homeland threats.

Would-be terrorists hoping to sneak weapons and other contraband through U.S. ports on and in the hulls of ships may be thwarted by a robotic tuna fish under development for the government.

The BIOSwimmer robofish is able to overcome so-called position-keeping problems experienced by traditional underwater robots that are powered by vertical and horizontal thrusters, according to the David Taylor, program manager for the robot at the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate.

The robot “can sit in the water and go through a swimming motion like a fish and give you a better position-keeping capability,” he told me on Thursday.

Such steadiness could be important, for example, while the robot uses an array of sensors to inspect grated cavities in ship hulls called sea chests where contraband could be stashed.

Control is via a tether attached to a laptop computer. The tether is long enough to inspect ship hulls more than 500 feet in length, Taylor noted.

The robot can also operate autonomously, he added, but when it is not hooked to the tether “sending data up through the water column is somewhat challenging.” 

To get around that, the robot would have to be periodically brought back to the surface for data downloading, which limits real-time inspection capabilities.

The Department of Homeland Security is in discussions with an undisclosed custom’s port to begin testing a prototype of the robot within a year.

Regarding every single point about the Human Condition I've ever tried to make on this blog, I rest my case.

 

Comments

[Ben]

Un-fucking-believable.