In order to stop running over whales, the Canadian Department of National Defence is deploying a series of robots to track whales and alert their activity to government ships.
The planned Slocum Diver robots are the work of Webb Research Corporation. Neutrally buoyant, the 115lb robots can hang out underwater at depths up to 600 feet, waiting for whale calls up to a month between rechargings. If the robot hears a whale, it surfaces and sends a radio transmission with time and GPS location information.
We’d end this story with a snarky comment, but even we would never pick on whales. Canadians though…they’re generally fair game.
Where’s Shamu… [PCWorld]
Project Page [Webb Research]
