Tracking Sharks With Robots

Scientists have been tracking sharks using robots for years. But a new approach allows them to do this while tracking the animal. Biologists at Mote Marine Laboratory and engineers at Harvey Mudd College developed the system using components from the shelf.

It has a powerful gripping force, able to withstand pull-off forces that are 340 times its own weight. It is also able to detect and alter its path depending on the changing conditions of the home.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are programmable robotic shark devices that, according to their design, can drift, drive or glide through the ocean with no real-time supervision from human operators. They come with sensors that record water parameters, map and map ocean geological features and habitats, and much more.

They are controlled by a surface ship using Wi-Fi or acoustic links to transmit data back to the operator. AUVS can be used to collect temporal or spatial data, and are able to be used as a group to cover more ground faster than one vehicle.

AUVs can use GPS and the Global Navigation Satellite System to determine their position around the globe and also how far they've traveled from their initial location. This information on positioning, together with environmental sensors that send data to computer systems onboard, allows AUVs to travel on a planned course without losing sight of their destination.

Once a research project is complete after which the AUV will float to the surface, and be recovered on the research vessel it was launched from. Alternatively, a resident AUV can be submerged and conduct regular, pre-programmed checks for a period of months. 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.

Some AUVs are able to communicate with their operators continuously via satellite connections on the research vessel. This allows scientists to continue to conduct experiments from the ship while the AUV is away collecting data under water. Other AUVs could communicate with their operators only at specified times, for instance, when they have to refill their tanks or verify the status of their sensors.

Free Think states that AUVs are not just used to collect data from oceanography but can also be used to search underwater resources, like minerals and gas. They can also be utilized for environmental disaster response to assist with rescue and search operations following oil spills or tsunamis. They can be used to monitor subsurface volcano activity and also the conditions of marine life, including whale populations or coral reefs.

Curious Robots

Contrary to conventional underwater robotics, which have been programmed to search for one specific feature on the ocean floor, the curious underwater robots are designed so that they can look around and adapt to changes in the environment. This is important since the environment beneath the waves can be unpredictable. If the water suddenly starts to heat up this could alter the behavior of marine animals, or even trigger an oil spill. Robots with a keen eye can detect these changes quickly and efficiently.

One group of researchers is working on an innovative Robotic Shark platform that utilizes reinforcement learning to teach a robot to be curious about its surroundings. The robot, which appears like a child wearing yellow jacket and a green arm can be trained to spot patterns that could indicate an interesting discovery. It is also able to make decisions based on its previous actions. The results of the research could be used to create a robot that can learn and adapting to changing environments.

Other scientists are using curious robots to investigate areas of the ocean that are too dangerous for human divers. For instance, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has a curious robot called WARP-AUV which is used to search for and study shipwrecks. This robot can identify creatures living in reefs, and can distinguish semi-transparent jellyfish and fish from their dark backgrounds.

It takes years of training to learn to do this. The WARP-AUV's brain is trained by feeding it thousands of images of marine life, so it is able to detect familiar species on its first dive. In addition to its ability as a marine sleuth, the WARP-AUV is able to send topside supervisors live images of underwater scenery and sea creatures.

Other teams are working to create robots that share the same curiosity as humans. A team from the University of Washington's Paul G. Allen school of Computer Science & Engineering, for example, is exploring how robots can be taught to be curious about their surroundings. This team is part of a three-year project by Honda Research Institute USA to develop curious-minded machines.

Remote Missions

There are many uncertainties with space missions that could result in mission failure. Scientists aren't sure how the duration of a mission will be and how well the components of the spacecraft work or if any other forces or objects might hinder spacecraft operation. The Remote Agent software is intended to reduce the uncertainty by performing many of the complex tasks that ground control personnel would perform in the event that they were on DS1 during the mission.

The Remote Agent software system includes a planner/scheduler, an executive model-based reasoning algorithm. The planner/scheduler generates a set of time-based and event-based actions known as tokens which are then delivered to the executive. The executive decides on how to expand these tokens into a sequence of commands that are sent directly to the spacecraft.

During the test, during the test, a DS1 crew member will be available to monitor the progress of the Remote Agent and deal with any issues that are not within the scope of the test. Regional bureaus must adhere to Department guidelines for managing records and maintain all documentation pertaining to establishing a remote mission.

SharkCam by REMUS

Sharks are elusive creatures, and scientists know little about their activities beneath the ocean's surface. Scientists are piercing the blue veil using an autonomous underwater vehicle called REMUS SharkCam. The results are astonishing and terrifying.

The SharkCam Team A group of scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution took the SharkCam which is a torpedo-shaped camera that was taken to Guadalupe Island to track and film white great sharks in their habitat. The resultant 13 hours of video footage as well as images from acoustic tags attached to sharks, provide much about the underwater behavior of these top predators.

The REMUS sharkCam, developed by Hydroid in Pocasset MA it was designed to monitor the location of animal that has been tagged without disrupting their behavior or alarming them. It employs an multidirectional ultra-short baseline navigation device to determine the range, bearing and depth of the shark, then closes in at a predetermined standoff distance and position (left right, right, above or below) to film it swimming and interacting with its environment. It is able to communicate with scientists at the surface every 20 second and respond to commands to alter the speed and depth, as well as the standoff distance.

When Roger Stokey, REMUS SharkCam developer Roger Stokey, and Edgar Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, Pelagios Kakunja shark researcher from Mexico's Marine Conservation Society, first thought of tracking great white sharks using the self-propelled REMUS SharkCam torpedo, they were worried that the torpedo might disrupt the sharks' movement and may even cause them to flee. But in an article recently published in the Journal of Fish Biology, Skomal and his coworkers report that despite nine bites and bumps from great whites that weighed thousands of pounds during a week of research off the coast of Guadalupe the SharkCam did not fail and revealed some interesting new behaviors about the great white shark.

Researchers interpreted the interactions between sharks and REMUS SharkCam (which was tracking four sharks that were tagged) as predatory behavior. The researchers recorded 30 shark interactions including bumps that were simple and nine bites with a ferocious force.