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     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: MIT
  21     doctoral  student You Wu spent six years developing the design,
  22     building  on  research  that  earlier  students  began  under a
  23     project  sponsored  by a university in Saudi Arabia, where most
  24     drinking  water  comes  from  expensive desalination plants and
  25     around  a  third  of  it  is lost to leaks. It took three years
  26     before  he  had  a  working  prototype. Then Wu got inspiration
  27     from  an  unexpected  source:  At  a party with his partner, he
  28     accidentally  stepped  on  her  dress. She noticed immediately,
  29     unsurprisingly,  and  Wu  realized  that he could use a similar
  30     skirt-like  design  on  a  robot so that the robot could detect
  31     subtle  tugs  from  the suction at each leak. Wu graduated from
  32     MIT  in  June,  and  is  now launching the technology through a
  33     startup  called  WatchTower  Robotics.  The  company  will soon
  34     begin  pilots in Australia and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One
  35     challenge  now, he says, is creating a guide so water companies
  36     can use the device on their own.
  37
  38
  39   ** What we are not told ... (Score:1)
  40      (by Alain Williams ( 2972 ))
  41
  42
  43      is he still with his partner who's dress he trod on ?
  44
  45   ** pig (Score:1, Informative)
  46      (by Anonymous Coward)
  47
  48
  49      Congratulations, you reinvented the pig.
  50      [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
  51
  52
  53
  54
  55      [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigging
  56
  57   **
  58
  59      ** Re: (Score:2)
  60         (by An Ominous Coward ( 13324 ))
  61
  62
  63         Ridiculous, how dare you plebeians libel our foremost
  64         technology elite. It's MIT, of course what they're doing is
  65         utterly novel and deserving of fawning media coverage.
  66         (
  67         [1]https://puretechltd.com/technology/purerobotics-pipeline-i-
  68         nspection-system/ [puretechltd.com])
  69
  70
  71
  72
  73         [1]
  74         https://puretechltd.com/technology/purerobotics-pipeline-insp-
  75         ection-system/
  76
  77
  78   ** They tried that robot in Montreal... (Score:2)
  79      (by ls671 ( 1122017 ))
  80
  81
  82      I hear they tried that robot in Montreal and it crashed due to
  83      memory exhaustion.
  84      Montreal is one of the oldest city in North America and there
  85      are so many leaks in its water system that it loses 30% of its
  86      fresh water supply.
  87      Makes you wonder what is the average water loss in other systems.
  88      [1]https://montrealgazette.com/ne... [montrealgazette.com]
  89      [2]https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]
  90
  91
  92
  93
  94      [1]
  95      https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-30-pe-
  96      rcent-of-montreals-water-is-lost-due-to-leaky-city-pipes
  97      [2]
  98      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/city-water-leaks-wasting-millions-
  99      of-tax-dollars-1.1048035
 100
 101   ** Badminton Birdie? (Score:2)
 102      (by TechyImmigrant ( 175943 ))
 103
 104
 105      It's called a shuttlecock you blithering idiot.
 106
 107