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New long-range undersea robot goes the distance
Date:11/2/2010

lingham says, "In designing this AUV, we were actually trying to make a fundamental change in how we do oceanography. In the past, if we wanted to study something like an algal bloom, we could either put out a mooring and hope that the bloom would drift past it, or we could schedule a research cruise and hope that the bloom would happen while we were out on the ship. Tethys can travel to a spot in the ocean and 'park' there until something interesting happens. Once a bloom occurs, Tethys can move fast enough to follow the bloom and watch it evolve, the way a biologist on land might follow and study a herd of deer."

From the very beginning, Tethys was designed to be as energy efficient as possible. Its hull, motor, and propeller were computer designed and tested to minimize drag and maximize efficiency of propulsion. Like a fish, it can control its buoyancy and the angle at which it "swims" through the water. The robot also incorporates sophisticated power-saving software like that found in some laptop computers, which monitors what systems are being used, and turns off those systems that are not in use.

This quest for energy efficiency is not without its risks. For example, most robotic vehicles are slightly buoyant. This means that, if all else fails, they will float up to the surface. However, with its variable buoyancy system, Tethys can make itself neutrally buoyant. If the entire system went dead under these conditions, the robot would remain drifting somewhere below the surface, and could be very difficult to recover. To mitigate these risks, MBARI engineers designed numerous fail-safe systems into the robot, some of which have their own independent power supplies.

Most AUVs are programmed at the surface to follow a pre-set path through the water. Some can be reprogrammed via a satellite link when they come to the surface. Tethys takes this process further, and can make some decisions without human intervention. For example, during t
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Contact: Kim Fulton-Bennett
kfb@mbari.org
831-775-1835
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Source:Eurekalert  

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