Tracking Sharks With Robots

Scientists have been tracking sharks using robots for years But a new system can do it while following the animal. Biologists from Mote Marine Laboratory and engineers at Harvey Mudd College developed the system using off-the-shelf parts.

It has a powerful gripping force capable of enduring pull-off forces that are 340 times its own weight. It also detects changes in objects and change its path in line with the changes.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) are programmable robotic Shark machines that, depending on the design they can drift or move through the ocean without real-time human control. They are equipped with a variety of sensors to record the water's parameters and map ocean geological features, seafloor habitats and communities, and more.

They are controlled by a surface vessel with Wi-Fi or acoustic connections to transmit data back to the operator. AUVS are able to collect spatial or temporal data and can be used in a larger group to cover more terrain faster than one vehicle.

Similar to their land counterparts, AUVs can navigate using GPS and a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to determine where they are in the world and how far they've been from where they started. This information, combined with sensors for the environment that send information to computers onboard, allows AUVs follow their planned trajectory without losing sight of their goal.

After completing a mission After completing a research mission, the AUV will be able to float back to the surface. It can be then recovered by the research vessel from which it was launched. Or, a resident AUV could remain in the water and conduct regular, pre-programmed checks for months at a time. In either scenario, the AUV will periodically surface to announce its location using the GPS signal or acoustic beacon, which are then transmitted to the surface ship.

Certain AUVs are able to communicate with their operators continuously via satellite connections on the research vessel. Scientists can continue their research on the ship while the AUV gathers data underwater. Other AUVs can communicate with their operators only at specified times, for instance, when they have to refill their tanks or monitor the health of their sensor systems.

Free Think says that AUVs are not only used to collect data from oceanography but they can also be used to search underwater resources, including gas and minerals. They can also be employed in response to environmental disasters, such as tsunamis or oil spills. They can also be used to monitor volcanic activity in subsurface areas and monitor the conditions of marine life such as coral reefs and whale populations.

Curious Robots

Contrary to traditional underwater robots that are programmed to search for a single element of the ocean floor The curious robots are built to explore the surroundings and adapt to changing conditions. This is important because the conditions beneath the waves can be unpredictable. For instance, if the water suddenly warms up, it could change the behavior of marine creatures or even lead to an oil spill. Curious robots are able to detect the changes swiftly and efficiently.

Researchers are working on a new robotic platform that makes use of reinforcement learning to train robots to be curious. The robot, which looks like a child with yellow jacket and a green arm can be taught to spot patterns that could signal an interesting discovery. It is also able to make decisions based on its previous actions. The results of the research could be used to develop an intelligent robot capable of learning and adapting to changing environments.

Other scientists are using robots that are curious to explore parts of the ocean that are too dangerous for human divers. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's (WHOI), for example has a robot known as WARP-AUV which is used to study wrecks of ships and to locate them. The robot is able to identify marine creatures, and discern semi-transparent jellyfish and fish from their dim backgrounds.

It takes years to learn to do this. The brain of the WARP-AUV has been trained recognize familiar species after a lot of images have been fed to it. The WARP-AUV is a marine detective which can also send live images of sea creatures and underwater scenery to supervisors at the surface.

Other teams are working on robots that learn by observing the same curiosity humans do. A team at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen school of Computer Science & Engineering, for example, is exploring ways to help robots develop curiosity about their surroundings. The team is part of a Honda Research Institute USA initiative to develop curious machines.

Remote Missions

There are many uncertainties in space missions that can lead to mission failure. Scientists aren't sure how the duration of a mission will be and how well spacecraft parts will function or if any other objects or forces may affect the operation of the spacecraft. The Remote Agent software is intended to help reduce these uncertainties by completing many of the difficult tasks that ground personnel would perform when they were present on DS1 during the mission.

The Remote Agent software system consists of a planner/scheduler as well as an executive. It also has model-based reasoning algorithms. The planner/scheduler generates a list of time-based and event-based activities known as tokens which are sent to the executive. The executive decides on how to transform these tokens into an orderly sequence of commands that will be directly transmitted to the spacecraft.

During the experiment, an DS1 crewmember will be on hand to keep track of the progress of the Remote Agent and deal with any issues outside of the scope of the test. All regional bureaus must follow Department guidelines for managing records and maintain all documentation pertaining to the establishment of a remote mission.

REMUS SharkCam

Researchers know very little about the activities of sharks below the surface. Scientists are piercing the blue veil using an autonomous underwater vehicle named REMUS SharkCam. The results are incredible and terrifying.

The SharkCam Team A group of scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution took the SharkCam, a torpedo shaped camera that was taken to Guadalupe Island to track and film white great sharks in their habitat. The 13 hours of video footage with the images from the acoustic tags attached to the sharks tell us a lot about their behavior underwater.

The REMUS SharkCam, which is developed in Pocasset, MA by Hydroid, is designed to follow the position of a tagged animal without affecting its behavior or causing alarm. It uses an omnidirectional ultra-short baseline navigation system to determine the range, bearing, and depth of the shark vacuum and mop robot, then closes in at a predetermined standoff distance and position (left, right above or below) to capture it swimming and interacting with its environment. It is able to communicate with scientists on the surface every 20 seconds and accept commands to change the speed and depth, as well as the standoff distance.

When Roger Stokey, REMUS SharkCam creator Roger Stokey, and Edgar Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, Pelagios Kakunja mopping shark robot researcher from Mexico's Marine Conservation Society, first thought of tracking great white sharks using the best self emptying shark vacuum-propelled REMUS SharkCam torpedo, they concerned that the torpedo could disrupt the sharks' movement and may even cause them to flee. Skomal, along with his colleagues, reported in a recent article published in the Journal of Fish Biology that the SharkCam was able to stand up to nine bumps and a biting attack from great whites weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds during a week of study near the coast of Guadalupe.

Researchers interpreted the interactions between sharks and the REMUS SharkCam (which was able to track four tagged sharks) as predatory behavior. The researchers recorded 30 shark self empty vacuum interactions which included simple bumps and nine bites with a ferocious force.