Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"In WWII, they had a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. I think the modern equivalent of that is that there are no jaded, bored people in the high-tech industry, in the land of really good hardcore geeks."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Wabbler | ||
| An autonomous underwater robot. |
The Wabbler is an autonomous robotic underwater munition. It is launched from a plane into waters outside enemy scrutiny, and then it slowly makes its way to the target.
| ...The Wabbler lay in its place, with its ten foot tail coiled neatly above its lower end, and waited with a sort of deadly patience... It and all its brothers were pear-shaped, with absurdly huge and blunt-ended horns, and with small round holes where eyes might have been, and shielded vents where they might have had mouths...
Splash! The Wabbler plunged into the water with a flare of luminescence and a thirty-foot spout of spume and spray rising where it struck... It dived swiftly for twenty feet... Then its falling checked. It swung about, and its writhing tail settled down below it... and then slowly, it settled downward. Its ten-foot tail seemed to waver a little, as if groping. Then it made small sounds from inside itself. More bubbles came from the round place like a mouth. It settled one foot, two feet, three... The Wabbler leaned infinitesimally toward the shore. Presently its flexible tail ceased to be curved where it lay upon the ooze. It straightened out. Then the Wabbler moved. Shoreward... |
| From The Wabbler,
by Murray Leinster. Published by Street and Smith in 1942 Additional resources -
|
Compare to another autonomous underwater robot Mitsubishi turbot from Slow Life (2002) by Michael Swanwick.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Wabbler
More Ideas
and Technology by Murray Leinster
Tech news articles related to The Wabbler
Tech news articles related to works by Murray Leinster
Wabbler-related
news articles:
- Squid Robot Underwater Inspector Has Unique Propulsion
- RoboClam Smart Anchor
- Underwater Robot With Touch Sensitive Skin
- Underwater Mine Detection Robots Vs. Wabbler
- Adelopod Amphibious Tumbling Robot
- DARPA's Upward Falling Payload Like Leinster's Wabbler
- Eel Robots Ideal For Naval Warfare
- Ad Astra! JPL's Autonomous Undersea Drones
| China Building Robot Wives |
| Stan, Robot Valet, Will Drag Your Car Away |
| Jibo Home Robot Says Goodbye, Is Killswitched |
| I Can't Resist Worm Robots |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid.'
'The Dwoskin Morality Rating-Computer could 'spot the slightest tendency to deviation' from the social norm...'
'At least there was no mandatory Whuffie check on the monorail platform...'
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
'This obelisk is one huge deflector mechanism...'
'...a high-efficiency filter and heat-exchange system.'
'How can you compete with an IBM heavy-duty logomatic analogue?'
