Welcome our big-bootied robot overloards

September 26, 2005 1:14 PM

On the Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe, a small GPR-enabled robot named Arturito (google translated page) has apparently just found "The biggest treasure in history..." (estimated at $10 Billion).
posted by numlok (25 comments total)

damn i lost my treasure somewhere around there last week... glad they found it for me.
posted by wakko at 1:17 PM on September 26, 2005

Also Arturito (and Star Wars geek) related: T-shirt / Wikipedia Entry (listed under "Inspiration")
posted by numlok at 1:18 PM on September 26, 2005

I just watched Sahara last night. Is this the same thing? Does the robot ride a crashed plane like it was a sailboard? Because that was my favorite part (well that an Steve Zahn losing his hat again and again, that was a great gag!).
posted by OmieWise at 1:21 PM on September 26, 2005

You know what really sucks is that poor Alexander Selkirk was the guy that really was stranded there for four friggin' years, yet the island gets named for the fictional character.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:23 PM on September 26, 2005

Looks like Arturito is going to Robot Vegas to get some Robot Hookers and party like its 0000010100010011100010101011.
posted by fenriq at 1:32 PM on September 26, 2005

Pirates. Such poor financial planners. Instead of buying it they really should have invested it. I'm not sure what the interest rate is on that particular Island but it can't be more than .05%? Whale oil futures and a cocoa plantation would have netted them at least 15% interest.
posted by tkchrist at 1:34 PM on September 26, 2005

And the announcement has already sparked a dispute over who could claim the treasure, with the Chilean government suggesting it would have full rights.


That made me laugh-- the government "suggesting." I picture an emergancy meeting of the cabinet and somebody piping up, "Perhaps we ought to float the idea that the treasure really belongs to us." "Oh, I say, smashing idea! Couldn't hurt to put the suggestion out there. You never know."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:35 PM on September 26, 2005

fenriq, you slay.
posted by shoepal at 1:46 PM on September 26, 2005

fenriq: Ha ha, too true!
I have a feeling they won't be calling him "Little Arthur" anymore...
posted by numlok at 1:48 PM on September 26, 2005

I am hereby suggesting that the $10 billion belongs to me.
posted by me3dia at 1:51 PM on September 26, 2005

at least someone's gettin' some booty around here.
posted by NationalKato at 2:46 PM on September 26, 2005

Odd timing. The camp of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk (from which the book is based) has recently been discovered by a Japanese archaeologist.

I've taken all this as a sign to read Robinson Crusoe and just ordered a Norton Critical Edition.
posted by stbalbach at 2:48 PM on September 26, 2005

Arrrrrrr meh treasure !
posted by elpapacito at 2:49 PM on September 26, 2005

That wasn't Oak Island was it.
posted by nervousfritz at 4:16 PM on September 26, 2005

shoepal, in my other life, I am a kill bot.
posted by fenriq at 4:58 PM on September 26, 2005

Why would anyone admit to finding it and letting any corrupt government make a claim?

Find it, dig it up, put it on a boat 13 miles of the coast of San Diego, then announce it!!!
posted by CCK at 5:39 PM on September 26, 2005

How frikkin' long would it take to transport and bury 800 frikkin' barrels of gold ingots 15 meters underground??? And then it was dug up and reburied somewhere else on the Island?!

15 Meters?! How much of that can be attributed to normal movement of sand over the years? Seems awfully deep.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 9:19 PM on September 26, 2005

If I found a $10B treasure, I sure-as-hell wouldn't tell anybody about it.
posted by neuron at 10:11 PM on September 26, 2005

If I found a $10B treasure, I sure-as-hell wouldn't tell anybody about it.

Like this recent discovery discussed on Metafilter…

Cops said if they hadn't been such attention whores they would probably have gotten away with it.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 10:41 PM on September 26, 2005

CCK writes 'Why would anyone admit to finding it and letting any corrupt government make a claim?
Find it, dig it up, put it on a boat 13 miles of the coast of San Diego, then announce it!!!'

Not to start a holy war here, but if you think the Chilean government is more corrupt than the US one, you haven't been following the news these last 15 years or so.
posted by signal at 10:51 AM on September 27, 2005

You know what really sucks is that poor Alexander Selkirk was the guy that really was stranded there for four friggin' years, yet the island gets named for the fictional character.

Actually -- one is named for each.

In 1966 the Chilean government renamed Isla Más Afuera to Alejandro Selkirk and Isla Más a Tierra to Robinson Crusoe, in order to promote tourism. Incidentally, Selkirk never set foot on Más Afuera, only on Más a Tierra.

Ideally, perhaps, the names would have been reversed. Or perhaps I. Crusoe is closer to tourism?
posted by dhartung at 12:55 PM on September 27, 2005

That made me laugh-- the government "suggesting." I picture an emergancy meeting of the cabinet and somebody piping up, "Perhaps we ought to float the idea that the treasure really belongs to us." "Oh, I say, smashing idea! Couldn't hurt to put the suggestion out there. You never know

Wouldn't be the first time governments have gotten hungry for buried or shipwrecked treasure. The Spaniards have gotten into the game here and here.
posted by Atreides at 1:26 PM on September 27, 2005

This news is really interesting. I was just about to post this and obviously have been well beaten to it. The story is everywhere now though. Sure will be interesting to see what they uncover! Now, let's all make pirate noises!
posted by sjvilla79 at 6:21 AM on September 28, 2005

Yar!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 4:50 PM on September 28, 2005

Signal, that's why I said thirteen miles, Territorial waters end at 12 miles. And I wouldn't want the Chilean Navy chasing me down, I can't think they would, being that close to major US Naval bases.

Not arguing comparative corruptness between the two countries. I just can't imagine the US making a claim to the treasure with a straight face. (not that they need one).
posted by CCK at 12:04 PM on September 29, 2005