Robot Navigator?

It seems fully automatic vehicle does exist. Driverless I mean. Best example of such technology commercially available is the AUV, stands for Automated Underwater Vehicle. It has been widely used in the area of marine strategic defense, research as well as hydrocarbon exploration.

AUV in action

Utilising primarily the gyro and inertial guidance system this robot can be pre-programmed to carry-out underwater seabed and near-seabed research mission effortlessly, weather-independent. Weather-independent? Some of us would see very minor impact of this phrase, but to those who are doing marine reserches and works, weather plays a very critical factor in the success of their missions. Imagine a rough sea conditions with 20 feet wave height, would you think a standard resarch vessel would be able to carry-out any research tasks at all?

Previously towed sensors from mother vessels are now embedded and integrated as part of the AUV to capture seabed and near subseabed data which would eventually be used for us to understand the underwater terrain, detecting buried geological or man-made structures, existing man-made infrastrucutres such as telecommunication cables, and geohazards.

Although a bit more expensive due to the mobilisation and demobilisation costs, but its efficiency, reliability and resulted data quality clearly supersedes all expectations.


To be continued...