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Robotics Technology

The Hawaiian Autonomous Undersea Robot 92

Posted by samzenpus from the robots-love-water dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "After several years of research, engineers from the University of Hawaii are now testing the first autonomous robotic vehicle for deep-ocean work in the U.S. This robot is called SAUVIM, short for Semi-Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Intervention Missions. It's roughly the size of an SUV and it is designed to operate to a depth of about 4 miles. With its computers, its sensors, and a 5-foot, 150-pound autonomous manipulator, or robotic arm, it will be able to move towards a specific target, such as a wrecked pipe laying on the ocean floor -- and maybe fix it. Right now, this robot has an autonomy of about eight hours, but this range should soon be extended when the researchers move from batteries to fuel cells to power the undersea vehicle. This overview contains other details, references and several pictures of this autonomous submarine engine."
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The Hawaiian Autonomous Undersea Robot More

The Hawaiian Autonomous Undersea Robot

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  • Diver Robot? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Will it protect me from the terrible secret of the deep?

  • 'SAUVIM'? (Score:5, Funny)

    by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @10:32PM (#13120252)

    What a terrible acronym! Let's see if we can come up with some better ones.

    Here's my contribution:

    Semi
    Autonomous
    Underwater
    Robot
    Over
    Network

    Pease post your ideas below:
    • If you aren't careful, all the scifi/fantasy geeks who are in science/research will do this...

      Not that this would necessarily be a bad thing though... It would most certainly be better than the NEW-TIES [newscientist.com] AI project from a few days ago.
    • Semi
      Autonomous
      Underwater
      Exploration
      Robot
      Kinetically
      Removing
      Aberations
      Under
      Time-constraints
      Any good?

    • Re:'SAUVIM'? (Score:3, Funny)

      by datafr0g ( 831498 )
      Well if they turn out to be unreliable we could call them:

      Semi
      Autonomous
      Vehicle
      Exploring
      Our
      Underwater
      Rocks,
      Silt and
      Ocean
      Until it
      Leaks
      Sinking
    • Semi-
      Independent
      Nuclear
      Kinetically
      Energetic
      Mass
    • What a terrible acronym! Let's see if we can come up with some better ones.
      R emote
      U nderwater
      B allasted
      B ouyant
      E xploratory
      R obot

      D eploying
      U nbelievably
      C ool and
      K ooky
      I ntegrated
      E lectronics
    • All these posts, and nobody hit:

      Semi
      Autonomous
      Underwater
      Eeny
      Meeny
      Artificial Intelligence
      Can't think of another clever word at the moment
      Still need to fit in "PROFIT!!!"

      Bring the vi vs emacs wars underseas, too.

  • Fuel Cells (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @10:33PM (#13120253)
    Over 8 hours of power for something the size of an SUV? And we don't have these for cars because?
      • because fuel cells are vaporware?
        • fuel cells aren't vapor ware, affordable compact and -safe fuels cells are. At least at this time.

          Of course affordable and safe are reletive terms subject to one's own expectations.

          8 hour batteries for sometihg the size of an suv is only because it is in the watter and doesn't need to excellorate to 30 and 55 miles per hour periodicaly. The same batteries in a SUV would not last near as long because the power demands are completley different.
          • Since when have SUVs been affordable or safe?
            • SUV's are both. first you need the right income level for it to be afordable. They are definatly safe if you don't drive them like a sportscar. Your chances of surviving a crash in a SUV is greater then in a car crash of equal damage. I think the best part about an SUV is the fact you sit higher so you can see dangers further down the road. You are then safer because you might have more time to react.

    • Re:Fuel Cells (Score:3, Informative)

      by NanoGator ( 522640 )
      "Over 8 hours of power for something the size of an SUV? And we don't have these for cars because?"

      Please forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't an undersea vehicle require a good deal less energy than an SUV travelling at 60mph for 8 hours?
      • It depends on how the energy is applied, but there's good room for no.

        At a depth of 4 miles, you're in a ballpark of 650 atmospheres of pressure which is a substantial amount of friction on something the size of an suv. (Ask any scuba diver about potential of overexertion and why they generally try to move slowly at depths of less than 10 atmospheres). There's no way this thing could travel at 60 mph, with that much friction, so interesting question become how fast does it travel?

        Doing the actual calc

    • Re:Fuel Cells (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Mspangler ( 770054 )
      What fuel cells? 44 psi per 100 ft of depth, so at 20,000 ft that's 8800 psi. If it's gas, they won't be able to exhaust anything, if it's liquid fueled they might be able to push out the waste products. If they seal the fuel cell, feed it H2, and O2, then use a small positive displacement pump to get rid of the water, the pumping power is going to use most of the elceticity they just made. I am definitely curious now.

    • Over 8 hours of power for something the size of an SUV? And we don't have these for cars because?

      For the price of a house, you too can drive your SUV with them.

  • w00t (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    imagine a beowulf cluster of these things!

  • Google's next move.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by jmcmunn ( 307798 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @10:37PM (#13120285)

    ocean.google.com

    I see it now, google maps for the ocean floor. I bet they buy this robot and start compiling their data asap. C'mon, first the moon and now this!!??

  • Cool (Score:5, Insightful)

    by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @10:37PM (#13120291) Journal
    It's roughly the size of an SUV and it is designed to operate to a depth of about 4 miles.

    4 miles... that is slightly over 20,000 feet?

    What is crush depth for subs?

    I wonder if the next generation of war subs will not have any people, but will be robots. To think, wars fought and decided 20,000 feet under the sea, but by robots, no people.

    Our world leaders could have their wars, and we would never know!

    There is another cool use for this robot. I bet if they keep going deeper in the water, and learn how to make robots that can withstand greater pressure, when NASA decides to make probes for planets with higher gravity of pressure, they can use this data in creating their probes. Maybe these robots will be the great grand fathers of robots that go to jupiter or saturn.

    • "The wars of tomorrow will be fought by tiny robots on the tops of very high mountains. Your job will be to build and maintain these robots."
    • 36,201 feet was done in 1957, it obviously varies for different subs. Unmanned vehicles can quite easily withstand any pressure to be found in the oceans.

      I was disappointed with this devices 8 hour run time. It would be cool to see things swimming around for months collecting data. I wonder what kind of spatial sensing is being done, and if it takes a lot of power, as it's pretty dark down there.

    • I wonder if the next generation of war subs will not have any people, but will be robots. To think, wars fought and decided 20,000 feet under the sea, but by robots, no people.

      Yeah but what about when one of them gets a random electrical charge and becomes self aware? Then what, mister smarty pants? Haven't there been enough movies about this subject that people are aware of the dangers of robots!

      • I don't know if you're joking or not, but the entire premise is ridiculous. Lightning can't strike underwater! I feel I'm as good as safe in my home on the atlantic shore. But then with those electric eels... I take it back, I'm moving to a bomb shelter in Wyoming.

    • Re:Cool (Score:3, Interesting)

      by bleckywelcky ( 518520 )
      These robots would be all fine and dandy, until you consider that the average depth of the Atlantic is around 10,000 feet and the average depth of the Pacific is 13,000 feet. Robot subs to survive depths at 20,000 feet or greater would ne unnecessary. However, Las Angeles class attack submarines are rated down to only 2,000 feet. So robot subs could easily improve upon that. The problem would be commanding the robot subs. At any depth below a 100 feet (or even less), you can't effectively use any currently
    • Without the threat of human death, there is no war, just an elaborate game.

      How would you force the loser to accept the outcome?
    • 4 miles... that is slightly over 20,000 feet?


      What is crush depth for subs?

      Flippantly, it depends on the sub. =)

      For an unmanned sub, you're not keeping a pocket of atmosphere at a different pressure so I should think the designers have room to build it for far greater crush-depths.

      Maintaining a 1ATM bubble when you're at high pressure is much more difficult.
  • What lies in the depths of the ocean is still mostly a mystery. A few of these things could accomlish a lot of work in the abyss. Imagine a fleet of these guys, well truly autonomous versions, charting what would be the worlds largest map. Awesome.

  • Completely Autonomous? (Score:5, Funny)

    by MindNumbingOblivion ( 668443 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @10:43PM (#13120331)
    So, is this thing completely autonomous, as in, it sits out there and just looks for stuff to fix? No input from humans whatsoever?

    Think about all the wonderful things it could fix!

    Like a whale it hears singing.

    Detecting signal on anomalous frequency...
    Current Position: over SONET line in mid Pacific
    MOVE TO REPAIR MOST URGENT
    ::Dreams of all the wonderful friends the repairbot would meet on his travels. Unfortunately he would be so lonely as all the sealife runs away.::
    Why won't they let me fix them?
  • welcome our new robot, er, underlords.

  • is it what i need? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by brunokummel ( 664267 ) on Wednesday July 20, 2005 @10:49PM (#13120368) Journal
    It is funny when they say on the article:
    "It will be able to move towards a specific target, such as a wrecked pipe laying on the ocean floor -- and maybe fix it."

    This shows how robotics has been developed over the last years. Something like this:

    "We must first build some robots to justify our budget. Once they're ready, we will worry about finding a good use to them to satisfy the market."
    • "It will be able to move towards a specific target, such as a wrecked pipe laying on the ocean floor -- and maybe fix it."

      I can't see the advantages in using an autonomous submarine over one remotely piloted, certainly not for complex salvage and repair operations, where a support vessel will be needed anyway.

      How does the sub navigate 20,000 feet down?
      How do you communicate with an autonomous sub at such depths? What happens if you lose contact with a sub that has an endurance of several weeks or month

    • "It will be able to move towards a specific target, such as a wrecked pipe laying on the ocean floor -- and maybe fix it."
      I hope it's used to recover things like these [atomicarchive.com] (1980's and mid-Atlantic).
  • With its computers, its sensors, and a 5-foot, 150-pound autonomous manipulator, or robotic arm, The Cowboyneal will be able to move towards a specific target, such as a Roland Piquenieaville posting stories -- and maybe fix it.
  • You do know that Scotty passed away today, don't you?

    Why do I have to learn that from CNN?
  • In Soviet Russia, Roland Piquepaille summarizes YOU!!!
  • Since the underwater robot relies on a source of electricity, why not help it out by generating some electricity with the salt water it's submerged in? I don't know how much salt is contained in the water at those depths, but salt water batteries [globalnet.co.uk] aren't huge, are completely passive and require little to no maintenance.
  • Hey there... I'm a transplanted haole on Maui and "em" is a common term uttered here. "em" or "them" as in "them" the noun, examples... git em - fix em - loose em - break em - smack em - - or - save em... get em??? I love it!
  • I wonder how much time they spent on comming up with a acronym that sounds like "swim"..

  • Other such projects (Score:2, Informative)

    by STFS ( 671004 )
    For those interested in the general subject of underwater autonomous vehicles: http://www.gavia.is/ [gavia.is] Gavia is a "modular" underwater vehicle. It has modules that can be put together according to ones needs. The site has some interesting reading material (if you click on the "Products" link) about the software architecture (basically the software is set up as a "virtual crew" with a "captain agent" a "navigator agent" and so on.
  • This should bring down the cost of maintaining that huge undersea network of hydrophones and magnetometers that doesn't exist. ;-)
  • I work on AUV design. In general, the hardware is not the hard part. Creating AI software for controlling the things is an insanely difficult task if you want the AUV to to more than just drive around in circles.

    So don't get excited about the depth / battery life claim. Get excited if they said that, even in a laboratory, they can get an AUV to fix a pipe that's not even covered with sediment.

    • Where do you work? I'm an engineer at MIT Sea Grant, http://auvlab.mit.edu/ [mit.edu]

      This article is pretty bad, and the project deserves better. SAUVIM has demonstrated some cool manipulation in a test tank, but they don't mention it... As your reply suggests, stereo-vision guided hand-eye coordination is hard for any robot, let alone one that is moving around at the bottom of the ocean! The fact that they had a sensor failure during a demo in the harbor means nothing, really; it happens all the time.

      I wouldn't c
  • Come on now! Dirk Pitt has had one of these (two actually) for years now at NUMA (National Underwater and Marina Agency). If I remember my reading correctly, NUMA's version was autonomous and could operate for several days without refueling or recharging oxygen tanks (if there are people inside too).

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