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Solar-Powered Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Posted by timothy on Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:36 PM
from the seanet dept.
Robotics Science
sunhou writes "A couple of months ago, researchers tested a solar-powered autonomous underwater vehicle (SAUV) at RPI's Darrin Fresh Water Institute. (More pictures and links to info available at the Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute.) Current autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) need to be taken out of the water often to have their batteries recharged. The goal is to have groups of cooperating SAUVs loaded with sensors and networking equipment deployed on long-term monitoring missions. Watch out Sky-Net, here comes Sea-Net! (See also the recent story about The Argo Project.)"
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[+] Technology: Rutgers Attempts Robot Atlantic Crossing 67 comments
RUCOOL writes "Rutgers University students and staff launched a Slocum glider AUV in an attempt to be the first such vehicle to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Progress so far is good, but it will be a long 6- to 9-month journey. Status as well as other information can be tracked here. Media links can be found in the lower left section of page, among images, and storyline blogs." And Google Earth fans can track the vehicle's progress, too.
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  • Perhaps someone should tell them (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 11 2004, @11:37PM (#11064311)
    That it's dark underwater.

  • There missions must not go very deep. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by andywebz (794668) on Saturday December 11 2004, @11:39PM (#11064317)
    I guess all of their missions and exploration will be very close to the surface. Unless there is some underwater solar energy source I'm unaware of.
    • No one's saying that it has to remain hundreds of feet below the waves at all times. They could easily program the vehicle to surface, recharge itself via solar energy, and go back down again.
      • It is still pretty slow. Even at the surface, solar power isn't very efficient in terms of cost or energy conversion, and below water, it takes a LOT of power to move about. Cheaper than replacing batteries manually? I suppose it would be. It would be good for very long term projects, I suppose.
        • If you are only slightly heavier than the surrounding water, and shaped like a wing, then gliding slowly down to depth is not energy intensive.

          When you reach the depth you want, pump the ballast out (or use electrolysis to make gas?) and slowly rise to the surface, again gliding slowly upwards.

          With the yo-yo glider technique, you can cover huge areas.
          • "When you reach the depth you want, pump the ballast out (or use electrolysis to make gas?)" This was covered on /. before: IIRC, the subs pumped oil into a bladder that increased their volume and made them positively bouyant (and vice versea).

    • Re:There missions must not go very deep. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      There is an underwater energy source, but it's not solar. More like thermo. Perhaps they should become hybrids and convert heat into energy.
      • You are correct of course, the temperature difference between the surface and at depth is what OTEC technology is built around. However, I fail to see a good way for a miniature sub to make use of it. OTEC requiers a really, really long pipe extending from the surface to several hundred feet deep and even then doesn't produce much net power).

        But then, I don't have a degree in engineering or thermal dynamics, so maybe I'm missing some finer points. :)
    • We keep a spare sun under the Atlantic ocean.

      You know, just in case.

  • All jokes aside (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Icarus1919 (802533) on Saturday December 11 2004, @11:40PM (#11064323)
    All jokes aside about it being dark underwater, this is going to be very helpful for research in large bodies of water. They can put a UAV with sensors and movement devices in say the Pacific and monitor the surface areas for long periods of time without ever needing to go back and "fill 'er up". We'll be able to monitor pollution levels, surface temperatures, ocean currents, all sorts of things much more efficiently.
  • Anyone else see that as "Solar-Powered Autonomous Underwear Vehicles"? 'cause, at least for me, that's talking about a spot where the sun don't normally shine...

  • Drug Smugglers (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 11 2004, @11:49PM (#11064349)
    So just how long will it be till Columbian drug smugglers use autonmous vehicles to bring over loads of cocaine? Sounds like an easy way for them to get loads through without worrying about people getting busted if they are caught.

  • Autonomous? (Score:4, Funny)

    by TooMuchEspressoGuy (763203) on Saturday December 11 2004, @11:51PM (#11064358)
    "Current autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) need to be taken out of the water often to have their batteries recharged."

    Well, then they're not exactly autonomous, are they?

    • All joking aside, the "autonomous" means it isn't getting controlled constantly by people watching the video feedback, which is usually the case.

      I've built a few subersibles to do lake-bottom surveys in New England that were basically glorified radio-controlled cars, and from what I understand that's basically how the Titanic-exploring bots worked. There's been some absolutely fascinating talk about building an army of small subs like the ones in this story that can survey automatically, giving us -- fina
      • "this has to be autonomous, because the acronym for Solar-powered Underwater Vehicle (SUV) is already patented."

        Wouldn't that be a SPUV ?
  • Wouldn't it be possible to collect the solar energy at the surgace, and send the energy through a cable down to the AUV? This assumes that they are already controlled by signals sent through cables, however, and I'm not sure if remote controls are used or what, but it seems a bit more effective (as far as I can tell) then collecting light under the sea (as is implied).

    Of course, then there is the problem of a shark or other large animal running into the cable (hopefully, if it is remote controlled, it will

  • Nuclear Energy! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by eln (21727) on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:10AM (#11064419) Homepage
    I think for long-term underwater exploration, nuclear is the most practical way to go. A nuclear power source can last indefinitely underwater (depending on how much fuel you have) and is not dependent on the weather if and when it does surface.

    • As a scientist who has used an AUV in the Antarctic, I can assure you we would not want to mess with the bureaucracy/logistics of nuclear power. Some big battery packs and no demands for the vehicle to move fast are all one needs really to collect some very interesting sub-surface data.

  • The really cool auv (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Camel Pilot (78781) on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:21AM (#11064466) Homepage Journal
    Imagine an auv that collects its energy from plankton? It is great idea and I would like to patent it but I think there may be some prior art on this idea. :(
    • wasn't there supposed to be some technology by now that would harvest energy from the differential in salinity/temperature between different depths of sea water? Or is that on a larger scale than would be practical with a submersible?

  • Uh-oh (Score:3, Funny)

    by Dekks (808541) on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:24AM (#11064479)
    Just don't let captain Murphy get his hands on it...
  • the vehicles probably are set to surface when the battery is low. including calculations on timing such as when to rise up (morning?),

    so YES, they ARE (or might be) autonomous...

  • buoyancy power! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by linoleo (718385) on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:54AM (#11064583) Journal
    Why bother with solar panels and propellers? A buoyancy glider [ucsd.edu] powered from temperature gradients is far more efficient. And you can use it where the sun don't shine, even off-planet [space.com].
  • I don't see any problem wth it running out of electricity. If it is down too deep to collect any light and is low on energy it could just shift boyancy, go into a low power standby mode, and float to surface.

    When it charges back up, kick into full gear and go kick some more deepwater-glow-in-the-dark-space-robot-extreme godzilla ass or whatever...

    We must harness the power of THE SUN to defeat deepwater-glow-in-the-dark-space-robot-extreme godzilla!!!!!! Uh, shit, I'm a dumbass...

    Anyhow, that seems to mak

  • Catching these (Score:4, Funny)

    by wooby (786765) on Sunday December 12 2004, @02:38AM (#11064903) Journal

    I can see nerds getting involved in the outdoors once again, bringing a whole new meaning to "phishing" - rigging up Zodiacs with networked fishfinder arrays and catching for themselves the latest in autonomous underwater robot technology.

    Hell, I'd steal one.

    I could slap Linux on it, make its hostname a Douglas Adams character, and brag on a mailing list somewhere.

  • It actually runs on the pent up sexual angst of slashdot users.
  • i wonder if it's possible to engineer something that would have them continuously recharge from the movement of the undersea water currents..

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