Wednesday, February 23, 2011

CIA secret agent gadgets: Website reveals Charlie the robot catfish

CIA robot fishMeet 'Charlie': The agency's Office of Advanced Technologies and Programs developed this Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) to study aquatic robot technology. 'Charlie' contains a pressure hull, ballast system, communications system, and a propulsion system in the tail.

It's the sort of idea that would be laughed out of any plot for a spy film: Secret agents using a radio-controlled robot catfish to swim up to their enemies and collect information.

Yet, unbelievably, the Central Intelligence Agency dreamed up such a device in the Seventies, called Charlie - and has now revealed it and other stranger-than-fiction gadgets on a new website.


The agency simultaneously launched a website and pages on YouTube and Flickr last week, revealing the sorts of equipment that would leave James Bond's Q Branch green with envy. ...


via CIA secret agent gadgets: Website reveals Charlie the robot catfish | Mail Online.

Awesome.  Underwater enemies beware.

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