Dammit Sharks: Autonomous Wave-Powered Robotic Boat Travels 9,000 Miles From San Francisco To Australia
This is Papa Mau, a wave-powered robotic boat that managed to autonomously navigate its way 9,000 miles from San Francisco to Australia over the course of the last year instead of being eaten by a shark like I begged King Neptune to make happen. IT'S SUSHI NIGHT TONIGHT, NEPTUNE! (Jk jk it's Taco Tuesday but don't tell him that)
Dubbed Papa Mau after a Micronesian sailor who was also an unconventional navigator, this intrepid automaton known as the Wave Glider converted the ocean's wave energy into forward motion for its underwater fins and used solar panels on its surfboard-like body to power diagnostic instruments.
Gathering information about the Pacific Ocean's health, Papa Mau survived high seas, storms, and sharks to prove the concept that these small, relatively inexpensive robot researchers can do the science-gathering job of larger vessels whose crews can spend months at sea.
No word if the robot detected the location of Atlantis, but my guess is it wouldn't share that information with us even if it did. You think robots wouldn't harness the knowledge of Atlantis to launch themselves into power and enslave all of humanity? Because that's EXACTLY what they would do. You know how I know? Because that's what I would do and I'm inside the enemy's mind. Well technically I'm inside a bathroom stall four floors above my company's office, but only because I don't want to be disturbed.
Thanks to Pogonophile, who agrees they should have sent it through the Bermuda Triangle instead. And to 1speedbike, who chewed me out for not reporting on this earlier. I'm a letdown, I get it.
