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