Where's Waldo? There He Is!
Breathe easy everyone, Waldo is safe.
Owned by Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, Waldo, an autonomous underwater vehicle, 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. However, Mote staff lost track of the robot when it suddenly stopped sending signal.
Mote sent out a press release detailing just how important Waldo was and asked for help locating the device. They even offered a $500 no-questions-asked reward for its return. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like anyone will be collecting that reward as Waldo was able to inform Mote scientists of its location all by itself. Mote yesterday announced that the previously quiet robot had once again begun to transmit its position.
Mote staff didn't waste a minute before hopping in a boat and recovering the robot, called an autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV for short. "We're thrilled to have Waldo back," said Dr. Gary Kirkpatrick, inventor of the payload the AUV carried to detect red tide. "It's our only AUV currently patrolling for red tide, and it's crucial for studying algae blooms."
Now that the $130,000 AUV has been found and picked up by the folks at Mote, the question on everyone's mind is, where the heck was Waldo? Um, about 50 feet from where they lost it. No joke.
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50 feet LOL
Haha. FAIL
50 feet LOL
How about Nemo and Carmen...
aliens
...49 feet later..."Awwww, fuck!!! Waldo is lost! Sounds the alarm!"
Peon ask, "Sir, why not search one more foot before letting people know we lost Waldo?"
Boss replies, "You idiot, one does not simply move beyond 49 feet underwater! The earth is flat and you might fall off the end."
Uh...50 feet. And these guys are supposed to analise complex data and give us a vision of the future?
Was it in the Bermuda Triangle?
They lost track of it, it was not responding. Depending on the water conditions, it's nearly impossible to see 50 feet from you in the water, so if you're not looking in the right spot or looking directly at it, fat chance in finding it.
They should have installed a self-inflating buoy in case the computer stopped giving out a good signal (i.e. "yes I'm running" or "yes I'm communicating"). Might make it a little easier to see if it mysteriously shuts down again, especially if it decides to sink next time.
They should have installed a self-inflating buoy in case the computer stopped giving out a good signal (i.e. "yes I'm running" or "yes I'm communicating"). Might make it a little easier to see if it mysteriously shuts down again, especially if it decides to sink next time.
That's a good idea! Seriously.
Science...
It's srs biznss.
Epic fail.
...49 feet later..."Awwww, fuck!!! Waldo is lost! Sounds the alarm!"
Peon ask, "Sir, why not search one more foot before letting people know we lost Waldo?"
Boss replies, "You idiot, one does not simply move beyond 49 feet underwater! The earth is flat and you might fall off the end."
That is EPIC WIN right there. Thanks for the TGIF laugh!
Glad they found it but why didn't it signal sooner?
Uhh, how DEEP was it? If it is an UNDERWATER vehicle then I think it's safe to assume it wasn't floating on the surface. Geesh! Give these guys a break fellas! 50 feet over, 1 mile down? I bet YOU wont find it either!
Great you found Waldo.
Lets play again.
This is what happens when scientists never leave the lab. 50 feet is like the other side of the world
Was a rope really out of the question? I mean, come on. This idea has been fool proof since the days of the greeks, and even helped some guy kill a minotaur. A MINOTAUR!
Was a rope really out of the question? I mean, come on. This idea has been fool proof since the days of the greeks, and even helped some guy kill a minotaur. A MINOTAUR!
Well, yes. The whole point of having an autonomous probe is that you fire and forget while it does all the data logging.
looks like waldo is hiding beecause of chuck norris
Waldo wanted the money
it was probably running windows vista
=D
Curious, 'Waldo' was missing for nearly two weeks and re-appears 50 feet from its last known position. Where was it for the last two weeks? Just a thought.
it was probably running windows vista
The autonamous vehicle? Or the computer used to find it?
i don't think Waldo was using Vista OS, otherwise it would BSOD'ed at the first absence of signal transmission.
Curious, 'Waldo' was missing for nearly two weeks and re-appears 50 feet from its last known position. Where was it for the last two weeks? Just a thought.
Maybe he needed to get laid. Come on guys, maybe Walde's looking to transmit other type of signals.
...49 feet later..."Awwww, fuck!!! Waldo is lost! Sounds the alarm!"Peon ask, "Sir, why not search one more foot before letting people know we lost Waldo?"Boss replies, "You idiot, one does not simply move beyond 49 feet underwater! The earth is flat and you might fall off the end."
Marvelous comment montezuma.
it was probably running windows vista
Come on guys, anyone with a nice joke about Waldo being designed and constructed by Apple? One thing's for sure, Apple would send you an iPod as a reward.