Posted on 12/01/2012 5:15:08 PM PST by DogByte6RER
NAVY DOLPHINS’ WORK WILL BE OUTSOURCED
Robots to pick up animals’ tasks, like some detection of mines
Like the factory worker and travel agent before them, some Navy dolphins trained to hunt down mines are scheduled to be replaced by computers in five years.
However, the Navy’s marine mammals aren’t going away. Military-trained dolphins and sea lions will continue to be used for port security and retrieving objects from the sea floor — jobs they are still better at than machines.
The Navy’s $28 million marine mammal program, headquartered in San Diego, uses 80 bottlenose dolphins and 40 California sea lions.
Armed by Mother Nature with superb eyesight, sophisticated sonar and the ability to dive 500 feet without getting “the bends,” these creatures have been deployed to Iraq and Bahrain during the post-Sept. 11 wars to keep ports safe for American ships.
They patrol for enemy divers. They ping buried mines and mark the location for handlers. It’s a program that goes back to naval research that started in the late 1950s and at one time included killer whales and sharks.
But now Navy officials say that an unmanned underwater vehicle — a 12-foot torpedo-shaped robot — can do some of the same mine-hunting jobs. And the machines can be manufactured quickly, unlike the seven years it takes to train a dolphin for duty.
Only 24 of the Navy’s 80 dolphins are involved in mine-hunting work that will go to robots starting in 2017. Those dolphins will be reassigned to other tasks, a Navy official said. Sea lion jobs are safe.
“We are certain that there’s going to be fewer mine-hunting dolphins,” said Mike Rothe, head of the biosciences division at the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific in San Diego.
(Excerpt) Read more at utsandiego.com ...
San Diego is home to the Navy's Marine Mammal program which includes dolphins and sea lions trained to find and mark the location of different underwater objects including mines, people and other items of interest. At their training facility on Point Loma, the animals are exercised and cared for in a regimen that rivals that of human athletes. Photography by John Gibbins/U-T San Diego
Before I express sympathy I want to know if the dolphins voted for 0bama.
oh.. for a sec there I thought we were outsourcing to Indian and Chinese children...
POTUS to Flipper: "This is your replacemnt. Train him to do your job; your food stamps and unemployment check are in the mail."
They call him flipper flipper..
Not trying to hijack this thread but just to let all who don’t know the latest. Today, the Secretary and the Navy announced the the aircraft carrier CVN80 will carry the name Enterprise. The name Enterprise NEEDS to continue to prowl the seas.
Now, back the the original thread.
More work Mexicans will take that nobody else wants?
Dr Gillian Taylor: You’re not from the military are you? Trying to teach whales to retrieve torpedoes or some dipshit stuff like that?
Admiral Kirk: No, ma’am. No dipshit.
If our enemy develops underwater ecm will the UUV still work?
Seven years to train a dolphin? He’ll never repay that student loan.
“So, Bob, what are you studying at dolphin school?”
“Oh, mine retrieval, bopping frogmen in the crotch, stuff like that. How about you, Frank?”
“Art therapy.”
“Frank, in seven years, you’re going to be back at your parents house living in the basement and watching porn on the Internet.”
“Beats the crap out of fighting with sharks and killer whales.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/dolphins-kill-porpoises_n_1106471.html
Yeah and if the dolphins stay unemployed that is good, why are we hiring genocidal rapist dolphins anyhow?
Maybe the Japanese were right about killing them....
Why not? If they're here they can cross water.
Looks to me like that sea lion in pic #5 needs a major trip to the dentist.
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