Robot tuna watcher

Forgive us the visual pun; since they haven't built this yet, the closest we could get was a robot tuna, not a robot tuna watcher. Anyway. Japan is planning to replace the observers who currently accompany fishing boats hunting tuna and bonito with a robot mounted at the centre of the boat that will take video of the catches and allow confirmation back on dry land that nothing irregular has gone on, in the interests of maintaining fishing stocks. While this strikes us as something that you could do fairly well with a video camera and a motion detector, there are no bounds to Japan's ability to develop ways to make the lives of its government employees easier. Sad, then, that roadworks are invariably accompanied by several old men in uniforms waving torchlike batons, often next to a cardboard cutout with a motorized arm that's doing the exact same thing.

[Crossposted to Engadget]

[Read: Japan Today: Robot to monitor tuna catches to cut costs]