Posts Tagged ‘uuvs’
Coming Soon: European-Designed Robotic Underwater Vehicles That Can Work in Teams
The European Union-funded Grex project, named for the Latin word for "flock," involves networking software to coordinate multiple autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs. Multiple AUVs can benefit from the sum of their parts, as the project's notes -- each could perform separate functions that contribute to a larger mission.
Until now, AUVs have operated solo, partly because it's difficult to link different vehicles through seawater at distances of more than a few hundred feet. But in the Grex system, vehicles will be able to act as relay stations, bouncing a control signal from the mother ship to the networked submarines over many miles.
One of the firms involved in the Grex project, German firm MC Marketing Consulting, designed a "Grex box" that incorporates communications tied to the vehicle controls. The system could be added to an existing AUV, retrofitting it for use as a team member, according to Michael Jarowinsky of MC Marketing Consulting.
In tests off the coast of Portugal last winter, Grex-capable vehicles were able to assemble into formation and perform "swarm" tasks. Two small boats and two AUVs each ran its own tack while talking to the others and adjusting its speed to reach formation.
The main goal is to use Grex vehicles for marine science -- as the group points out, humans know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the oceans, 90 percent of which has not been explored. But the technology has several commercial applications, including the offshore oil industry, Jarowinsky says.
SeeByte, one of the project's partners, plans to market the control software and graphical user interface for managing schools of AUVs. The project coordinator, ATLAS Elektronik, plans within the next four years to offer a complete system, including the Grex box, software and installation and training.
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Meet the Robots On the Oil Leak’s Front Lines
Remotely operated robots are shooting video, carrying equipment, drilling pieces into place, and monitoring the flow of oil. BP has contracted with at least four robotics companies, including Oceaneering International Inc., Subsea 7 and C-Innovation, to do the work, according to .
Initially, the undersea robots were unimpressive, failing to that could have sealed the well from the surface. But since then, they cut the broken riser pipe and placed both containment domes over the spewing well. They’ve also provided the live video streaming across millions of TV screens.
Teams of humans on boats are controlling the robots, which have names like Maxximum, Hercules and Skandi Neptune. The human operators -- two for each robot -- drive using joysticks, but they can’t see where their undersea avatars are going. Even with headlights, the robots’ environment is almost completely dark, so they use sonar to gauge their proximity to objects.
The ROVs range in size from that of a small car to a big truck, although most of their bulk consists of foam intended to protect them from the intense pressures found at 5,000 feet below the surface. They remain connected to fiber-optic or copper tethers that enable communications, but sometimes ocean currents tangle or even break those lifelines.
The spill has shown the world how much hinges on the work of a team of robots, according to John Mair, global technology manager for the Scottish firm Subsea 7.
Here’s hoping they (and their human drivers) can handle the pressure.
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