Ann, this is great. The number of swimming robots you have described is amazing. This one looks like it could travel large distances, just like real sea turtles. If all these creatures were deployed, we might have to be careful about what we catch when fishing. I am also suprised by the origin of this one and the tuna. Switzerland is a land locked country.
Thanks, Lou and gsmith. There's a surprising number of swimming robots, whether humanoid or animal-oid. Lou, good point about fishing! gsmith, I also noticed some major improvements in the rev 1 and 2 of the naro.
Great article. I would be interested to see how efficient each design is at different speeds. In other words, would the turtle design be more power efficient at lower speeds and the tuna design be more power efficient at higher speeds? I would also be curious to see the comparison of each design under different conditions.
Thank God the Swiss are funding stupid things like this..... Oh crap; I finally read the rest of the first paragraph. Somewhere I knew that the U.S. Govt might do something like automate a fish. Who better than F-ing Homeland Security to manufacture a spy fish. Wait until the Navy finds out that another dept is infringing on their territory. This flapping contraption reminds me of the first attempts to make a flying machine that flapped.
On the other hand may be I could get a grant from Homeland Sec. to develop a flapping airplane.
The Chief of Naval Operations once stated in a speach that the U.S. Navy has three enemies: The Soviet Union, the U.S. Air Force and Hyman Rickover. Now we'd have to add Homeland Sec.
When they say "Autonomous" in reference to robots, to what extent do they mean? I presume that even when they cut the thing loose to swim "autonomously", they still have the ability to take control. Is that the case?
Also, it would seem that autonomous behavior would have to be guided by some set of rules that give the robot some objectives or priorities as to what it is supposed to be doing. Is that the case, or is it just supposed to randomly swim around avoiding obstacles?
Hi ttemple, You are correct in regards to autonomous. The robot can manuever without an ambilical cord of wires. Sensors along with software will guide the robot based on a set of rules allowing it to be used for specific tasks such as tracking oil slicks or other environmental conditions of interest to researchers. Thanks for another great robotics article Ann!
mrdon, thanks for that explanation. Robots are becoming more autonomous all the time, as sensors, processor and software become more powerful and/or increasingly sophisticated.
Hi Ann, Your quite welcome. I had a similar conversation with my Control Systems class last night on not only the autonomous attributes but social interaction of robotics. Showed a couple of You Tube videos on Rodney Brook's ReThink Robotics Baxter and his early work on Cog at MIT's Artifical Lab.
Thanks, mrdon. Baxter is definitely an interesting development in social robotics. We've covered robots that interact with people in several types of environments: http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=251275 http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=251721 and more at the links at the end of the second article listed.
Are flippers more efficient than a propellor? Sea creatures use flippers because they are easier to evolve than a bearing mounted shaft, not because they are the better solution.
A device such as this would be semi-autonomous - it would be able to maintain bouyancy and evade obstacles and non-tech-savvy predators by itself, but it needs to be steered to its' target and told what to do when it gets there (either placing or removing limpet mines, I suppose)
I can see a large number of applications for the sea turtle robot, even more if it can be dressed to give the same sonar signature as a real turtle. A group of them could attach mines to an entire fleet of enemy vessels without raising any alarm. And that is just the most obvious task.
They could also be very useful in the commercial fishing business, and in a lot of underwater investigations, since they are undoubtedly quite stable.
I agree--I think this design, as well as robotic fish, could compete well against more clunky-moving unmanned underwater vehicles UUVs) and do a good job of reconnaissance, chemical monitoring, and other such tasks that UUVs are designed for.
The castaways that are currently available for rescue are undoubtedly being paid far to much to consider accepting a rescue. Although if it were rehearsed as much as the rest of those shows it might possibly be quite interesting.
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