Community News

How new sonar technology is charting Canada’s Arctic

July 31, 2015 – via Defence Research and Development Canada

The system that we have produces bathymetry as well as high-resolution imagery. The reason it does that is not because we necessarily wanted bathymetry — although that’s a nice corollary — we need the [depth data] in order to focus the SAS on the exact right spot and altitude.

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Stephen Hawking Doesn’t Have to Fear Killer Robots

July 29, 2015 – via Defense One

Autonomous weapons will never remove the human dimension of warfare, but if we are careful, they just might thin the fog.

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Boeing’s yellow submarine: The new vessel, built in Huntington Beach, can dive down to 20,000 feet

July 28, 2015 – via Boeing

Boeing’s latest and largest submersible is a follow-up to its 2001 Echo Ranger, the smaller, original yellow submarine that conducts ocean surveys. The 32-foot-long Echo Seeker has a 6,000 pound cargo capacity and is equipped with sonar technology for enhanced ocean-bottom mapping.

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Autonomous Weapons: an Open Letter from AI & Robotics Researchers

July 28, 2015 – via IJCAI 2015 conference

Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea, and should be prevented by a ban on offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control.

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Navy to Invest Up to $1.43 Billion to Support Unmanned Mine Countermeasures Vehicles

July 22, 2015 – via US Navy

Seven contractors were awarded three-year contracts, with two one-year options, for a range of engineering work: design, fabrication, installation, test and evaluation, fielding, maintenance, training and more for both hardware and software of existing and future systems

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Robotic Submarine and Plankton Sampling: Learning Seep Secrets

July 22, 2015 – via Duke University Marine Laboratory

The SyPRID sampler can allow us to gain a much clearer picture of where the larvae go and where they concentrate in the deep ocean

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U.S. Submarine Launches Undersea Drone in a 1st for US Navy

July 20, 2015 – via US Navy

The drone was launched from a shelter attached to the top of the Virginia class submarine that can also be used for the undersea deployment of divers and special forces.

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Europe’s first ultra-deep-sea robotic glider to monitor deep sea pollution

July 18, 2015 – via National Oceanography Centre

As Europe’s first ultra-deep-sea robot glider, the craft is capable of reaching 75 percent of the world’s oceans to depths of up to 5,000 m (16,400 ft).

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Navy Names First Director of Unmanned Weapon Systems

June 29, 2015 – via US Navy

Rear Adm. Robert P. Girrier will be assigned as director, unmanned weapons systems, N99, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, District of Columbia.

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New Fuel Cell Technology Shows Safety, Endurance Potential for UUVs

June 29, 2015 – via Office of Naval Research

The aluminum-seawater concept is an old idea but only recently have the barriers to making it operational been overcome.

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Congress wants to get undersea unmanned vehicles just right

May 27, 2015 – via US Navy

Lawmakers are calling on Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to assess the number and types of AUVs needed to most effectively execute naval missions.

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UTEC NCS Survey completes West African project

May 27, 2015 – via NCS Survey

UTEC NCS performed pre-lay and as-laid surveys using their Gavia autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) systems on the Mafumeira and Litchendjili fields, offshore Angola and Congo.

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Aramco investigates AUVs for seismic acquisition

May 26, 2015 – via Aramco

The company’s long-term goal is to cut its seismic acquisition costs by 50% and acquisition time by a factor of four, while improving subsurface image fidelity and accuracy.

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Advanced Manufacturing: Marine Robotics And Other High-Tech Add To The Cape’s Economy

May 25, 2015 – via Hydroid

Hydroid is one of several companies on Upper Cape Cod that makes things for the oceanographic industry. It’s what economic development people call an ‘advanced manufacturer’ — they’re producing complex products that overseas competitors are unlikely to build because of the quality needed, or even the timing. These are exactly the types of companies the region wants to attract.

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Pentagon mulls secret underwater recharge stations for submarine drones

May 23, 2015 – via Office of Naval Research

The pods will allow the unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to dock, recharge, upload data and download new orders before shoving off again.

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On This Sea Cruise, Drones Train to Be the Underwater Explorers of the Future

May 22, 2015 – via Australian Centre for Field
 Robotics

Unmanned ocean robots can go where humans cannot. But first they gotta learn to work together.

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ASU expertise results in faster, portable microbial analysis in the field

May 22, 2015 – via Arizona State University

The ddPCR Bioanalytical Field Instrument is a highly miniaturized microbial analysis machine that allows researchers to do things such as detect microbes in water, soil and the upper atmosphere – while still on-site, without having to take samples back to a lab

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The 7-11 For Robot Subs: Underwater Plug And Stay Hubs

May 21, 2015 – via Office of Naval Research

Forward-Deployed Energy & Communications Outpost (FDECO) allows unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to dock, recharge, upload data and download new orders, and then be on their way.

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Local researchers send underwater robots to assist in response to Santa Barbara oil spill

May 20, 2015 – via Scripps Institute of Oceanography

The one near Santa Barbara owns a critical mission. “Our goal is to help,” said researcher Dan Rudnick. “All of our data right now is being fed real time into these models.”

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Unmanned vehicles loom large at Japan naval tech expo

May 15, 2015 – via Maritime Systems and Technology Asia

Defense firms, all from countries on good terms with both the United States and Japan, pitched their latest technology on the exhibition floor of the three-day MAST (Maritime Systems and Technology) Asia conference to a wide audience of government and navy officials.

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