Caribou is the AUV Lab’s newest vehicle. Recently built by Bluefin Robotics Corporation this AUV represents the culmination of significant development efforts. Featuring a modular hull design and the latest evolution of AUV navigation, propulsion and power systems, Caribou provides significant new autonomous survey capabilities and flexibility for other scientific needs.
Equipped with state-of-the-art sensors this AUV can collect high-quality data. Caribou’s modular payload sections allow one core vehicle to support widely different science missions. The initial section is designed to accommodate the Edgetech(R) FS-AU side-scan sonar and sub-bottom profiler. Additional payload modules are being designed. The AUV Lab is looking forward to applying Caribou to a wide spectrum of research efforts including: archaeological remote sensing, multi-static acoustic modeling, fisheries resource studies and development of concurrent mapping and localization techniques.