Content area
Full Text
Turtle-Inspired Robot Operates in Tethered and Autonomous Modes
With the technological developments in robotics toward greater autonomy and reduced cost of components, robots are moving into new application areas, including consumer robotics (e.g., vacuum cleaners, toys), civil robots (e.g., search and rescue), new domains of commercial uses (e.g., forestry) and transportation (e.g., autonomous cars).
Research and development in underwater robotics has so far been mostly driven by the needs of the oil and gas industry and the defense industry. New application areas for underwater robots would be in search and rescue, environmental monitoring, underwater mining, underwater archaeology and, perhaps, personal use (e.g., robotic diving companions and entertainment robots).
The European Union's 7th Framework research project ARROWS (ARchaeological RObot systems for the World's Seas) has been adapting and developing low-cost AUV technologies to significantly reduce the cost of archaeological operations. These technologies include mapping an area of interest with autonomous robots, identifying possible objects of interest (usually shipwrecks), close inspection of the objects and representation of this information in an easily understandable way (e.g., building 3D models from video and sonar images). The goal has been twofold. First, to do something that hadn't been possible before for underwater archaeologists, who traditionally rely on a surface vessel with a side scan sonar to map the seabed and on human divers. Second, to operate at lower cost by using autonomous robots and eliminating the need for an expensive surface vessel.
U-CAT Basics
Among the developments within ARROWS is the lowcost underwater vehicle U-CAT specifcally designed for shipwreck exploration. The task of U-CAT is to provide video footage from inside a shipwreck. The motivation for U-CAT was to equip archaeologists with tools that could substitute for human divers in a hazardous environment, as well as possibly cutting the costs of exploration. The development began with identifying the end-user requirements and gathering information about the vehicle's operation environment (such as visibility, strength of currents, available space, etc.). The video to be taken by U-CAT would provide information on the general condition of the wreck. Based on this information, the archaeologist would then decide if the wreck is interesting enough to be explored further and if any objects of interest should be brought to the surface.
Because the vehicle has...