* Illustration: Mike Bain * It's a fish! It's a torpedo! It's an autonomous underwater vehicle! In April, an 8-foot-long robot dubbed RU27 left the Jersey coast on an extraordinary trans-Atlantic voyage. If it survives the 3,500- mile trip to Spain, it'll become the first so-called glider to cross the pond—all the while gathering data on water density, temperature, and salinity for its human overlords at Rutgers.
RU27 pokes along at jellyfish speed: A battery-powered pump sucks in seawater, causing the nose to dive; when the water is pushed out, it angles up. Side wings turn that up-and-down into forward momentum.
The crossing is fraught with perils like drift nets, circular currents, and sucker fish, but the bot surfaces periodically to update its coordinates. "It's like waiting for your daughter to call," oceanographer Josh Kohut says. "You get nervous." Godspeed, RU27. Don't forget to phone home.
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