Robotic yellow submarine is ‘Mars Rover of the sea’

October 2, 2008

See a slideshow of images of the new sub

Off the coast of Massachusetts’s Cape Cod on an unseasonably warm autumn day, something resembling a portly yellow dolphin turns on a dime before scooting off in the opposite direction.

The nimble new automated sub, called Odyssey IV, is the baby of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It can plunge to depths of up to 6 kilometres to explore deep-water coral reefs, archaeological ruins and oil rigs.

Opposable thumb

"It’s the Mars rover of the sea," says Mike Soroka, a mechanical engineer at MIT, who helped develop the craft. "It’s the same kind of environment: unknown and unexplored, and potentially very useful to know about."

Unlike a few other automated underwater vehicles (AUVs), Odyssey IV can hover in place while it examines or interacts with objects, an ability that will let scientists do more than just sightseeing in the deep ocean.

This cheerful yellow robot sub can hover underwater, unlike some oceanography subs, making new kinds of mission possible, for example, holding position and manipulating underwater objects.

"There is a rich history of AUVs exploring the classical oceanographic features likes the deep sea vents," says team leader Franz Hover.

"What we’re doing with this vehicle is we’re seriously tackling the manipulation problem. It’s built for that. It’s what we’re supposed to do with the corals. It’s what off-shore industry wants," he says. The new AUV could be seen as the opposable thumb of undersea research – a major step forwards in sub evolution.

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Posted in Science and Technology, Technology