Schlagwort-Archive: underwater robot

Could Robotic Scuba Divers Reach The Bottom Of The Ocean?

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Guest Article by Ellie Poverly - Ellie is an online journalist specializing in robotics and science research. She is also the Managing Editor at Revolutionized Magazine.

As of 2022, roughly 80% of the ocean remains a mystery. In fact, much of it hasn’t even been seen by humans yet. There have been more photographs of the Moon’s surface than the ocean floor.

Exploring the deepest parts of the ocean is an incredible challenge, complicated by intense pressures and complete darkness. Here’s a look at the robots that could finally reveal the secrets of Earth’s oceans.

The Limits of Human Exploration

Over half of the tallest mountain on Earth is underwater. The volcano Mauna Kea in Hawai’i is estimated to be around a mile taller than Mt. Everest from base to peak, although most of it is submerged. This massive volcano is just one of countless secrets hiding beneath the surface of Earth’s oceans.

Other discoveries waiting underwater range from the wrecks of lost aircraft to the remains of sunken ships and even sunken cities, as well as life that looks like something from an alien world. Exploring the ocean floor could reveal groundbreaking archaeological, geological and biological discoveries. So, why haven’t humans started SCUBA diving down to the seabed?

Unfortunately, reaching the ocean floor is not easy, especially for humans. The deepest part of the ocean is the Mariana Trench, which extends 7 miles — or about 36,200 feet — deep. To put that into perspective, the world record for the deepest SCUBA dive is only 1,090 feet, set by diver Ahmed Gabr in 2014. Approximately 1,000 feet below sea level is considered the maximum depth humans can dive.

Luckily, humans have invented some amazing robots to help explore the ocean floor remotely.

The Robotic SCUBA Divers Exploring the Depths

A growing number of robotic SCUBA divers travel down to the deepest reaches of the ocean. Some look like mini submarines, while others are eerily human-like. These robots help scientists study a wide range of topics and may become even more crucial in the years ahead.

For instance, climate change increases the risk of food toxins on the surface. Could this be happening underwater as well? Additionally, the strange biology of deep-sea life could help researchers learn more about how life evolved on Earth and how it might exist on other worlds.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has explored depths of 36,000 feet below sea level in the Mariana Trench using a robotic submarine called Orpheus. The robot is helping create 3D imaging of the ocean floor and capture video footage of deep-sea life. Its navigation system may one day be used in robots that explore the dark oceans of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Taking a completely different approach is the OceanOne robotic SCUBA diver developed by researchers at Stanford University. The OceanOne is designed to be as human-like as possible, acting as a robotic avatar for human divers. On its maiden voyage in 2016, OceanOne was used to retrieve the first treasures ever recovered from the flagship of King Louis XIV, wrecked in 1664. Humans have never touched the wreck before.

NASA is also developing a deep-sea robot — the Aquanaut — which features a humanoid design. The Aquanaut has front-mounted cameras and sensors, as well as robotic arms engineers can connect various tools to. Unlike other deep-sea robots, the Aquanaut is geared more toward underwater work than exploration. However, NASA still plans to use robots to explore the oceans of Europa and Enceladus, frozen moons of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively.

What the Robot Divers are Discovering

These robotic SCUBA divers are making incredible discoveries at the bottom of the ocean. For starters, robots are helping scientists map the ocean floor, which is a monumental undertaking. Robots that dive down to the seabed need to withstand immense pressures that would kill a human diver. Plus, all of the robot’s instrumentation, sensors, cameras and navigation electronics must be able to survive, as well.

In addition to mapping the ocean floor, robotic SCUBA divers are helping humans find new species of aquatic life. The seabed seems like an unlikely place for life — it is entirely devoid of sunlight and freezing. However, robotic deep-sea exploration has changed how scientists think about the necessary ingredients for life.

Dozens of new species have been discovered living in the darkness of the deep oceans. They range from colossal squids to strange life forms that look like something straight out of science fiction. Many deep-sea animals do not have eyes since there is no light on the ocean floor. Others have evolved to be far larger than their higher-depth cousins, such as enormous jellyfish and crabs.

The Future of Robotic SCUBA Divers

Robots are taking exploration to new horizons that would otherwise be unattainable for humans. Earth’s oceans remain some of the least explored regions in the solar system. With the help of robotic SCUBA divers, scientists are discovering new species, unearthing ancient shipwrecks and revolutionizing knowledge of the sea.

New BlueROV2 Enables Underwater Exploration and Study

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TORRANCE, California – Torrance startup, Blue Robotics, announced a new high-performance and affordable underwater drone, the BlueROV2. The BlueROV2 continues Blue Robotics’ mission to improve the accessibility of ocean exploration and study. The BlueROV2 is available for reservations now and shipping will commence in August 2016.

Leveraging a vectored thruster configuration that is usually only seen in high-end vehicles, the BlueROV2 is smooth and stable yet highly maneuverable. It provides a solid platform to attach scientific equipment, film cinematographic quality shots, and explore the oceans down to a depth of 100 meters.

“From day one, our goal has been to make marine robotics accessible to more people and businesses than ever before,” said the company’s founder, Rustom Jehangir. Since announcing their first product, a low-cost underwater thruster motor, in 2014, Blue Robotics has been steadily releasing new enabling products ranging from watertight pressure enclosures to depth sensors and underwater lights. The new BlueROV2 is, according to Jehangir, the company’s “new flagship product – a fusion of all of our other products and efforts.”

Used in wide-ranging applications from boat inspections to aquaculture to shipwreck exploration, remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) have long been in an industry dominated by a small number of companies, targeting big business and government applications. The heavy price-tags attached to these vehicles can range from $4,000 to $100,000 or more.

The BlueROV2, however, comes in a number of different configurations, with a standard kit costing just around $3000. “We’re able to make the BlueROV2 at a fraction of the cost of similar vehicles thanks to many of the same technologies that have made aerial drones affordable,” said Jehangir. That includes the use of the open-source Pixhawk autopilot as well as a Raspberry Pi computer.

The price of the BlueROV2 will enable wider use of subsea vehicles for many people including universities, research organizations, small businesses, hobbyists, and first responders. “We know there are a lot of people out there with an urge to explore the ocean,” says Jehangir, “and the BlueROV2 is a tool to help them do so.”

The BlueROV2 is available as a partially assembled kit that is simple and enjoyable to build and requires several hours of user assembly. It can be reserved at no cost. The kits will begin shipping in August 2016.

Blue Robotics is based in Torrance, California and launched in 2014 with a highly successful Kickstarter campaign. Since then, the company has shipped thousands of thruster motors and has released many other products for marine robotics. Blue Robotics’ products are in operation in over 40 countries worldwide.

Read more about the Blue Robotics Team and the BlueROV2 here:

Starfish underwater Drone

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For the average person, the word drone likely brings one of several images to mind. One of those is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles more commonly used by the military.

People with various levels of training and intelligence can now buy various versions of „copter“ drones, depending only on their budget. What logically follows are reports of people crashing their new toys (some costing $1,000 or more) into people or buildings, perhaps a testament to how little thought has gone into the idea.

Even Amazon is toying with the idea of using drones to deliver orders of laundry detergent or whatever it is that a conventional courier service can’t get to you fast enough before you run out.
The point is, when we think of drones, we typically think about one direction and that is up.

SheerTech, a Canadian industrial design company, is about to expand our directional thinking with a nifty little device that’s sure to be a hit with the underwater diving community.
It’s calling its invention the Starfish Underwater Quadradiver Robot and it won’t take you long to figure how this entirely capable device could quickly become an indispensable tool on a recreational dive boat (or any boat where fun and utility are the objective).

The Starfish—we’ll shorten the name from here on—connects its human operator on the surface with a 300-foot umbilical cord (which obviously defines how deep the device will go).
But as divers will already know, 300 feet is a long way down and there’s a good deal that can be done between the surface and that depth.
Connected to an IPad or Android device, the Starfish is naturally buoyant (which makes the surface set-up that much easier). The four 12-volt thruster motors are used to maneuver both downward and laterally and there’s a video camera as well as a maneuverable grappling hook capable of securing items weighing up to 500 pounds before the operator pulls the Starfish to the surface.

Mario Thibert, a master diver who once owned his own dive boat, is one who sees the potential of Starfish for the underwater diving community.
Writing on his website Thibert (http://www.crowdfunding-reviews.com) looked at Starfish from the diver’s perspective, and applauded the idea.
„This is not just a gadget for finding things at the bottom of the lake,“ writes Thibert. „This is a business.“
Thibert writes from experience, having owned a dive boat that operated on the St. Lawrence River, one of the busiest summer dive spots in the area off the province of Quebec, Canada.
„At the end of the day, we’d drive around in the boat near popular wrecks where there could be 150-200 divers on a weekend and we’d ‚drift‘ around where the boats would have been,“ Thibert writes. „People would drop things—a lot of stuff—when they were going down the moor line at a 45 degree angle and we’d pick up stuff like dive computers, BCDs, regulators, tanks, you name it.“

 

On the downside of that exercise, as divers well know, there’s a lot of work associated with just scouting around, not least of which is the need for a dive buddy.
With Starfish, trolling for treasure would become a lot easier—and potentially a lot more profitable.
Even at $2,000 per unit (the Kickstarter campaign runs until October 14) a dive community that’s accustomed to moderately hefty price tags will see the value.
Indeed, Thibert admits he paid $1,500 for a tethered camera alone.
„This is really an amazing product,“ he writes on his review site. „For a scuba diver, $2,000 is peanuts for something like this. There’s a lot of value here.“

The Starfish Underwater Quadradiver Robot is featured on Kickstarter (link https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1066181261/starfish-underwater-quadradiver-robot).

OpenROV releases Trident, a new affordable underwater drone.

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OpenROV launches Trident, an all-new, low-cost underwater consumer drone. Part of an ongoing mission to democratize ocean exploration, this model is simple enough to “plug in and go,” and capable enough to use for scientific research and serious exploration. Orders can be placed on Kickstarter starting today, September 14, 2015.

Trident - In Water (2)
OpenROV has already established a rich community of makers, explorers, and ocean enthusiasts with its popular OpenROV kits. The company began in 2012 when co-founders Eric Stackpole and David Lang came up with the design for an expedition to find gold lost in an underwater cave. Noticing there weren’t any affordable underwater ROVs on the market, they realized that they were tapping into a burgeoning trend that enabled citizen explorers and scientists.

 
Writes David Lang about this movement towards accessible research tools, “The cost of asking interesting questions and then sharing those results with the wider world has been drastically reduced. New discoveries can come from anyone, and from anywhere.”

 
The first OpenROV Kickstarter project was a big success – making almost $100,000 more than their $20,000 goal. Since then they have grown significantly, shipping over 1,700 OpenROVs to more than 32 countries around the world.

 
The Trident underwater drone weighs less than 3kg, and is small enough to fit in a backpack or underneath an airplane seat. It can dive to 100m depth. It’s hydrodynamic shape allows it to move both quickly and precisely. Trident sends live video back to the surface by way of a thin, neutrally buoyant tether, and is controlled by a laptop, smartphone or tablet at the surface.

 
Potential applications for Trident are numerous, including: marine biology projects, dive site surveys, boat inspections, and underwater exploration.

 
Trident’s unique shape and design make it ideal for projects such as 3D mapping that require it to move along transects – long straight lines for surveying large areas. The HD video stream allows the pilot to view the underwater world in a way that has never before been possible, and Trident’s ease of operation makes flying the robot fun and exciting for anyone – regardless of technical skill. The OpenROV team has spent the past three years designing, testing, and developing Trident with the end user in mind. Expected delivery is November 2016.

 
At his TEDx talk earlier this year, co-founder Eric Stackpole remarked, “I like to picture a world where hundreds of thousands of people have access to these kinds of tools for exploration. What happens when you put this kind of ability to explore the world in the hands of everybody?”

 
Trident is a giant step in that direction.

 

More information: http://openrov.com