Underwater Robots and Equipment

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Underwater Robots and Equipment
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Atmospheric Diving Suits

• Good to 2000 and normally carry 6-8 hours of
  working air and an emergency backup.
• Electric motor propulsion systems.
• Some with joint and hand mechanical assist
  systems.
• Weighs 1000 pounds.

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Arthur C. Sanderson, professor of electrical,
computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, will display the robotic
technology being developed by a team of research
groups, including Rensselaer, and led by the
Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute directed by
D. Richard Blidberg. Sanderson also will
participate on a panel of six robotics experts
who recently completed a study to be released at
the Sept. 16 workshop. The World Technology
Evaluation Center International Study of Robotics
is a two-year look at robotics research and
development in the United States, Japan, Korea,
and Western Europe. As the principal
investigator of an NSF-funded project called
RiverNet, Sanderson is working collaboratively
with other researchers to develop a network of
distributed sensing devices and water-monitoring
robots, including the first solar-powered
autonomous underwater vehicles (SAUVs). Once
fully realized, this underwater robot technology
will allow better observation and monitoring of
complex aquatic systems, and will support
advances in basic environmental science as well
as applications to environmental management and
security and defense programs, said Sanderson.
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Flippers for propulsion?
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AMOUR (Autonomous Modular Optical Underwater
Robot) AMOUR with sensors in MooreaWe designed,
developed and deployed an underwater sensor
network capable of multi-modal perception, dual
communications and mobility in the ocean. The
hardware consists of static sensor network nodes
and mobile robots that are dually networked
optically for point-to-point transmission at
300kb/s and acoustically for broadcast
communication over hundreds of meters range at
300b/s. We have demonstrated the system during
experiments with this system in the ocean, in
rivers, and in lakes.
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This program is undertaking the implementation
and in-water testing of two classes of biomimetic
autonomous underwater vehicles. The first is an
8-legged ambulatory vehicle that is based on the
lobster and is intended for autonomous
remote-sensing operations in rivers and/or the
littoral zone ocean bottom with robust
adaptations to irregular bottom contours, current
and surge. The second vehicle is an undulatory
system that is based on the lamprey and is
intended for remote sensing operations in the
water column with robust depth/altitude control
and high maneuverability. These vehicles are
based on a common biomimetic control, actuator
and sensor architecture that features highly
modularized components and low cost per vehicle.
Operating in concert, they can conduct autonomous
investigation of both the bottom and water column
of the littoral zone or rivers. These systems
represent a new class of autonomous underwater
vehicles that may be adapted to operations in a
variety of habitat
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Flippers for Locomotion Better Two? Better Four?
Madeleine, an underwater robot, is helping
scientists and engineers better understand the
most energy-efficient way to use flippers for
locomotion as well as to design more efficient
underwater autonomous vehicles. Credit John
Long, Vassar College. An underwater robot is
helping scientists understand why four-flippered
animals such as penguins, sea turtles and seals
use only two of their limbs for propulsion,
whereas their long-extinct ancestors seemed to
have used all four. When researchers put a robot
named Madeleine through her paces, they found
that her top cruising speed did not increase when
she used four flippers instead of two --
apparently because the front flippers created
turbulence that interfered with the rear
flippers' ability to generate forward propulsion.
Maintaining the same speed with four flippers
also took significantly more energy. Results
from experiments such as these aid engineers in
designing underwater autonomous vehicles and help
scientists understand why certain traits survived
over others during the process of evolution.
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• November 5, 2004Underwater Robot Makes History
  Crossing Gulf Stream
• By Mario AguileraLike the sailing vessel used
  by Captain Joshua Slocum to sail solo around the
  world 100 years ago, another ocean-going vehicle
  is making history. A small ocean glider named
  Spray is the first autonomous underwater vehicle,
  or AUV, to cross the Gulf Stream underwater,
  proving the viability of self-propelled gliders
  for long-distance scientific missions and opening
  new possibilities for studies of the oceans.
• Launched September 11, 2004, about 100 miles
  south of Nantucket Island, Mass., the
  two-meter-(6-foot)-long orange glider with a
  four-foot wingspan looks like a model airplane
  with no visible moving parts. It has been slowly
  making its way toward Bermuda some 600 miles to
  the south of Cape Cod at about one-half knot,
  roughly half a mile an hour or 12 miles per day,
  measuring various properties of the ocean as it
  glides up to the surface and then glides back
  down to 1,000-meters depth (3,300 feet) three
  times a day. Scientists recovered the vehicle
  this week north of Bermuda.

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The AUV ExplorerInternational Submarine
Engineering, Canada
Principal Characteristics Principal Characteristics
Length 4.5 m to 6.0 m
Hull Diameter 0.69 m
Dry Weight 750 to 1250 kg
Working Range 120 km at 1.5 m/s with 75-Watt payload.Range can be increased to 240 km with 2nd battery module
Maximum Depth 300, 1000, 3000 or 5000 meters
Speed Range 0.5 to 2.5 meters per second
Power Source 1.2 24 kWh Lithium Ion battery
Control Computer Rack mount compactPCI system
Hydroplanes 3 planes. 2 foreplanes optional
Navigation IxSea Fibre-Optic or Ring Laser Gyro INU
Velocity Sensor RDI Workhorse 300 or 600 kHz DVL
Positioning Motorola GPS antenna on fixed or telescoping mastUSBL transponder
Depth Sensor Paroscientific Digiquartz transducer
Altitude Sensor KSM 675 kHz Digital Altimeter
Acoustic Communications ORCA MATS 200 or LinkQuest UMW4000
Radio Telemetry  900 or 2400 MHz radio, Iridium satellite communications
Payload Capacity  Without removing trim lead 200 kg
Emergency Equipment   ORE LXT Transponder locater, Novatech Strobe,RF Radio  Beacon