

Live undersea robot as exciting as a space walk - Duckpaddle2
http://www.interactiveoceans.washington.edu/visions11/live

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nhebb
I never thought looking at underwater lava formations could be so mesmerizing.
I could easily spend an hour or more looking at that. Half of it is just lure
of the ocean, and half of it is just the coolness of watching a live feed of a
underwater robot from the comfort of my den at 5:00 AM.

I wonder if that's a stereoscopic camera. The depth of field looks good, but I
had a problem gauging distance several times. Some formations, viewed straight
on, looked small until the robot came around for a side view and I realized
they were much bigger than I thought.

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Duckpaddle2
If you watch long enough you will see what appears to be a green V. This is
actually two green lasers mounted in parallel, 10cm apart. This gives the
pilots "depth perception".

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nhebb
Yeah, I saw that in the FAQ. I tweeted a question to them about the camera.
Their reply: "the camera is a Zeus plus built by insite pacific..a high end hd
fantastic camera but not 3D". Here's the camera product sheet:
<http://www.insitetritech.com/Camera_Summary.pdf>

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randomdrake
This is very cool. Looking at and being near volcanic activity with
temperatures near 300°C. There are narrators coming in occasionally to provide
additional information and explanation.

Here are some links to provide some background and interaction:

Twitter feed for updates: <http://twitter.com/#!/VISIONS11ops>

Visions '11 cruise that you are watching the mission of:
<http://www.ooi.washington.edu/visions11>

Approximate location:
[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=45.55586,-129.587516&hl=en...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=45.55586,-129.587516&hl=en&t=h&z=3&vpsrc=0)

More information about the submersible: <http://www.ropos.com/>

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hartror
It is at times like this I think "Wow I live in the future!".

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tintin
The image quality is also amazing!

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kitcar
What would be awesome was if there was a corresponding Map which showed where
in the ocean the image is coming from -

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tintin
According to there Tweet: _"45_ 55.586N 129 _58.7516W axial seamount, eastern
side of caldera."_

It would also be nice to see things like depth.

Edit: I guess you can use these to search Google maps: 45.55586,-129.587516

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Duckpaddle2
According to the comments, they have a fiber optic cable up to the ship and
from there a sat link to a server at washington.edu...

