test/expected/SLASHDOT/0102640424

   1    MIT GRADUATE CREATES ROBOT THAT SWIMS THROUGH PIPES TO FIND OUT
   2                 IF THEY'RE LEAKING (FASTCOMPANY.COM)
   3
   4   Thursday September 06, 2018 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
   5   from the leak-detecting dept.
   6
   7   o Reference: 0102640424
   8   o News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/18/09/06/2058201/mit-graduate-creates-robot-that-swims-through-pipes-to-find-out-if-theyre-leaking
   9   o Source link: https://www.fastcompany.com/90232363/this-leak-seeking-robot-just-won-the-u-s-james-dyson-award
  10
  11
  12     A  28-year-old  MIT  graduate  named  You  Wu  spent  six years
  13     [1]developing  a low-cost robot designed to find leaks in pipes
  14     early  ,  both  to  save water and to avoid bigger damage later
  15     from  bursting water mains. "Called Lighthouse, the robot looks
  16     like  a  badminton  birdie,"  reports  Fast  Company.  "A  soft
  17     'skirt'  on  the  device is covered with sensors. As it travels
  18     through  pipes, propelled by the flowing water, suction tugs at
  19     the  device  when  there's a leak, and it records the location,
  20     making a map of critical leaks to fix." From the report:
  21
  22     >  MIT  doctoral  student You Wu spent six years developing the
  23     design,  building on research that earlier students began under
  24     a  project  sponsored  by  a  university in Saudi Arabia, where
  25     most  drinking  water  comes from expensive desalination plants
  26     and  around a third of it is lost to leaks. It took three years
  27     before  he  had  a  working  prototype. Then Wu got inspiration
  28     from  an  unexpected  source:  At  a party with his partner, he
  29     accidentally  stepped  on  her  dress. She noticed immediately,
  30     unsurprisingly,  and  Wu  realized  that he could use a similar
  31     skirt-like  design  on  a  robot so that the robot could detect
  32     subtle  tugs  from  the suction at each leak. Wu graduated from
  33     MIT  in  June,  and  is  now launching the technology through a
  34     startup  called  [2]WatchTower Robotics . The company will soon
  35     begin  pilots in Australia and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One
  36     challenge  now, he says, is creating a guide so water companies
  37     can use the device on their own.
  38
  39
  40
  41     [1] https://www.fastcompany.com/90232363/this-leak-seeking-rob-
  42     ot-just-won-the-u-s-james-dyson-award
  43
  44     [2] http://watchtowerrobotics.com/
  45
  46
  47   ** What we are not told ... (Score:1)
  48      (by Alain Williams ( 2972 ))
  49
  50
  51      is he still with his partner who's dress he trod on ?
  52
  53   ** pig (Score:1, Informative)
  54      (by Anonymous Coward)
  55
  56
  57      Congratulations, you reinvented the pig.
  58      [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
  59
  60
  61
  62
  63      [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigging
  64
  65   **
  66
  67      ** Re: (Score:2)
  68         (by An Ominous Coward ( 13324 ))
  69
  70
  71         Ridiculous, how dare you plebeians libel our foremost
  72         technology elite. It's MIT, of course what they're doing is
  73         utterly novel and deserving of fawning media coverage.
  74         (
  75         [1]https://puretechltd.com/technology/purerobotics-pipeline-i-
  76         nspection-system/ [puretechltd.com])
  77
  78
  79
  80
  81         [1]
  82         https://puretechltd.com/technology/purerobotics-pipeline-insp-
  83         ection-system/
  84
  85
  86   ** They tried that robot in Montreal... (Score:2)
  87      (by ls671 ( 1122017 ))
  88
  89
  90      I hear they tried that robot in Montreal and it crashed due to
  91      memory exhaustion.
  92      Montreal is one of the oldest city in North America and there
  93      are so many leaks in its water system that it loses 30% of its
  94      fresh water supply.
  95      Makes you wonder what is the average water loss in other systems.
  96      [1]https://montrealgazette.com/ne... [montrealgazette.com]
  97      [2]https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]
  98
  99
 100
 101
 102      [1]
 103      https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-30-pe-
 104      rcent-of-montreals-water-is-lost-due-to-leaky-city-pipes
 105      [2]
 106      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/city-water-leaks-wasting-millions-
 107      of-tax-dollars-1.1048035
 108
 109   ** Badminton Birdie? (Score:2)
 110      (by TechyImmigrant ( 175943 ))
 111
 112
 113      It's called a shuttlecock you blithering idiot.
 114
 115