Wheres Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

[jeff of pa]

Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

Fla. boaters urged to look out for missing robot
Scientists aren't sure what happened to the robot,
which is nicknamed Waldo.


Sep 5, 5:23 AM EDT
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) -- 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.

It cost about $100,000. It also was equipped with a detector to find red tide, a toxic algae bloom. That was valued at another $30,000.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ODD_MISSING_ROBOT?SITE=PAPOE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

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[G.I.B.]

Re: Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

This is not the first time either...

Some fishermen found it on the surface when it was up for a GPS fix. They pulled it on board and brought it to shore and called the number on it thinking it was lost.

Another time it was caught up in a trawlers shrimp net, brought to shore and returned.

Sometimes when they have internal failures they just stop and float around till someone finds it.

 

[ScubaDude]

Re: Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

There was a multi million dollar AUV in the Gulf that went AWOL a while back. Strangely it reappeared a month or so later, its back in service I believe. It was subsequently renamed Nemo by it's owners & crew.

I think Galleon Hunter has better info on that one.

 

[FISHEYE]

Re: Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

I want it!I can put it to good use finding other things!

 

[G.I.B.]

Re: Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

Here is a Waldo update: Still missing...

Where’s Waldo the robot?



A submersible that scans the Gulf of Mexico for Red Tide is missing.

BY EMILY NIPPS

Times Staff Writer

Waldo is 6 feet tall and weighs 115 pounds. When last seen, he was wearing all yellow.

Family members have searched high and low. They have publicly pleaded for his safe return, even offering a $500 no-questions-asked reward.

If they could put his photo on a milk carton, they would.

But after two weeks of despair, researchers at Saraso­ta’s Mote Marine Laboratory are beginning to lose hope. Waldo, the beloved Red Tide-sniffing robot, may never come home.

“We’re kind of at a loss,” said Dr. Gar y Kirkpatrick, the sci­entist who named Waldo, built Waldo’s Red Tide detector and, for all intents and purposes, is like a father to Waldo.

Waldo, one of Mote’s three robots — or autonomous under­water vehicles — disappeared Aug. 31. He was patrolling off the Southwest Florida coast for five days, sending satellite sig­nals and submitting data every two hours or so. He runs on his own, via programmed courses set by the lab, and is equipped with a GPS and several backup communication devices.

(more online if your interested)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humani...scientists-ask-wheres-waldo-the-robot/1034882

 

[lobsterman]

Re: Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

in the past i found an epirb (a locater beacon ) bouy, that was dropped from a coast guard helicopter, for the surface craft to find while doing there training exercises, the only problem was that they forgot to "turn it on" oops , i found it several weeks later.


maybe they should have turned Waldo on then he'd be sure to return

 

[Salvor6]

Re: Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

They found Waldo yesterday.

 

[billinstuart]

Re: Where's Waldo ? Florida Boaters Read.

Good! I'm sure those things ain't cheap.