A large number of robots have been designed to operate in or near water, whether fresh water or the salty seas. Military, homeland security, and naval operations are some of the more obvious application areas. For example, Bluefin Robotics' autonomous underwater vehicles and the Hawkes Remotes remotely-operated vehicles are designed for reconnaissance, surveillance, and detecting unexploded ordnance. Like many of their unmanned ground vehicle counterparts, they can go where humans can't.
These, and other mostly autonomous robots are also aimed at scientific exploration and data gathering, as well as maintenance of ships, oil and gas pipelines, telecommunications cables, or alternative offshore energy installations. Some target water or environmental health monitoring.
Click the image below to see 13 examples of these sea-worthy automatons.
Festo's AquaPenguin is one of many projects the company has pursued under its Bionic Learning Network. The network's purpose is to use the energy-efficient principles already found in nature and adapt them to automation technology. The AquaPenguin is an autonomous underwater vehicle with penguin-inspired hydrodynamic body contours. Equipped with a 3D sonar system, like that of dolphins, it can communicate with its surroundings and other AquaPenguins, independently orient itself, and navigate. Its torso, head, and tail sections can move in all directions for maneuvering in cramped areas, letting it turn on a dime and swim backwards. (Source: Festo)
Island_Al, I would guess the humanoid firefighter is already carrying a weapon. It was probably designed to carry a weapon. The firehose was likely an afterthought.
According to that press release, the Wave Gliders will be aimed at lowering the cost and risks of seismic, subsea and environmental monitoring, tasks it's already done in those and other situations.
I agree, Gsmith120. Lately there seems to be a renaissance in robotics development. Most of the big leaps seem to be coming from the military. That's not surprising given the military budget.
Beth. when I looked at the details--as much as Festo will give--of their jellyfish and penguin robots I was stunned at the quality of the design. Perhaps I shouldn't have been: Festo is known for quality and clearly good design is required for underwater robots, especially autonomous ones. Their utility, at least for surveillance-type apps, seems pretty clear.
Chuck, I agree--they look so vulnerable, yet are surprisingly rugged. In fact, Liquid Robotics has just formed a separate joint venture company with Schlumberger for oil & gas exploration and production services: http://liquidr.com/files/2012/06/Schlumberger_LiquidRobotics_Joint_Venture.pdf
Ann, it would be wonderful to see the military engage in formal tech transfer programs like the national labs do. The labs have programs to send their R&D out to start-ups -- usually start-ups runs by former lab researchers. It's a great idea to make the taxpayer-financed research available to entrepreneurs. Robotics looks like a perfect candidate for tech transfer.
Further down the scale are the awimming pool cleaning robots which sweep and vacuum the bottom of your swimming pool (if you're lucky enough to have one...). Designing a robot that can work underwater is not trivial - getting rid of excess heat is a problem, you can't expose a heatsink to the water because it will suffer galvanic corrosion. Keeping water out is another problem, when you have moving or rotating parts passing through a watertight enclosure.
We looked at a number of sources to determine this year's greenest cars, from KBB to automotive trade magazines to environmental organizations. These 14 cars emerged as being great at either stretching fuel or reducing carbon footprint.
Researchers at MIT and Sandia National Labs have observed a reaction in lithium-air batteries that could help improve the design of these cells for electric vehicles and other applications.
Healthcare might seem to be an unlikely target application for the Internet of Things technology, but recent developments show small ways that big-data is going to make an impact on patient care moving into the future.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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