Community News

Scientists zero in on submarine volcanoes in the Kermadecs

March 2, 2015 – via GNS Science

Sentry will travel over the volcanic structures at walking speed and at a pre-determined height above the seafloor. It will build detailed three-dimensional maps and measure up to 12 different chemical and physical parameters of the ocean and seabed.

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Evolving robot brains

March 2, 2015 – via Michigan State University

Group uses genetic algorithms operating on a mathematical framework called Markov networks to model a large population of robot “brains” working on a particular task, like finding the exit to a maze. The brains that perform the task best have the largest number of simulated “offspring.” The researchers run this genetic algorithm over thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of generations, and then download the surviving brains into robots that execute the tasks in the outside world.

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Oregon Coast Scientists Look to Robots That Think Like Fish

February 25, 2015 – via Oregon State University

OSU plans to outfit a pair of undersea gliders with acoustical sensors to identify biological “hot spots” in the coastal ocean. They also hope to develop an onboard computing system that will program the gliders to perform different functions depending on what they encounter.

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DARPA approaches industry for unmanned sensors to monitor Arctic land, sea, and air traffic

February 25, 2015 – via DARPA

For this project DARPA remote sensing experts are asking for proposals for low-cost unmanned air, surface, and subsurface sensing systems for the Arctic, including ways to deliver sensor information to remote sites.

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Electrolyte rids batteries of short-circuiting fibers

February 24, 2015 – via Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Now a new electrolyte for lithium batteries eliminates dendrites while also enabling batteries to be highly efficient and carry a large amount of electric current.

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Batteries could be improved to make electric vehicles cheaper

February 23, 2015 – via BASF

In addition to being able to store more energy, the scientist are also aiming for these batteries to cost $146 per kWh (kilowatt hour), which is about half the cost of the cheapest lithium-ion EV battery.

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INEA Inks ‘Blue Growth’ Grant Deals

February 23, 2015 – via INEA

BRIDGES, a four year-long project bringing together research partners from 9 countries, will improve the unique European underwater glider SeaExplorer to adapt it to more diverse operations deeper in water.

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A New Era of Antarctic Exploration: AUVs in Polar Science

February 19, 2015 – via Marine Technology News

One of the main areas of exploration that we will be targeting is under ice-shelf cavities in the marine setting.

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Autonomy Takes Off Underwater

February 17, 2015 – via Marine Technology News

For insights on recently developments in the AUV sector, MTR reached out to several leading executives,

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SubC introduces new 3D Camera

February 15, 2015 – via SubC

This camera has the ability to produce SD, 3D-SD, HD and 3D-HD video along with Digital stills.

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Five Minutes with Tim Taylor, Tiburon Subsea

February 13, 2015 – via Tiburon Subsea Services

Tiburon Subsea is a new company that is structured to scale and fill the technical equipment needs of the marine industry, with our focus on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.

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Simultaneous search for MH370

February 12, 2015 – via Joint Agency Coordination Centre

The Fugro Supporter is equipped with a Kongsberg HUGIN 4500 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The AUV can turn, ascend and descend rapidly to maintain a constant altitude above the sea floor in areas of challenging bottom topography. The AUV is being used to search areas which are difficult or inefficient for the towed systems to search.

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Next generation lithium-sulfur batteries given DNA boost

February 12, 2015 – via China University of Geosciences

The team then observed experimentally a three-fold enhancement in capacity retention after 200 discharge cycles by dispersing a small amount of DNA derived from salmon sperm onto the carbon-sulfur surface.

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The Marines Are Building Robotic War Balls

February 12, 2015 – via GuardBot

The GuardBot is a robot ball that swims over water at about 4 miles per hour and then rolls along the beach, at as much as a 30-degree incline and 20 miles per hour.

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NASA releases details of Titan submarine concept

February 10, 2015 – via NASA

Now that NASA has got the hang of planetary rovers, the space agency is looking at sending submarines into space around the year 2040. At the recent 2015 NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Cocoa Beach, Florida, NASA scientists and engineers presented a study of the Titan Submarine Phase I Conceptual Design, which outlines a possible mission to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, where the unmanned submersible would explore the seas of liquid hydrocarbons at the Titanian poles.

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Southampton scientists develop ‘octopus submarine’

February 5, 2015 – via University of Southampton

Like an octopus, it inflates with water then rapidly deflates by shooting the water out through its base.

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Robot Submarine Looks Under Antarctic to Find Out Why Sea Ice Is Getting Thicker

February 5, 2015 – via University of Sheffiield

To help get to the bottom of this mystery, one team of scientists has enlisted an underwater robot to help measure the thickness of the ice. Their vehicle, known as SeaBED, has an upwards looking sonar that maps the underside of ice floes and provides novel, highly detailed, three-dimensional maps of Antarctic sea ice.

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CNO: Here’s What We Need for the Future Force

February 5, 2015 – via Office of Naval Research

Greenert’s second challenge for the S&T; community is to develop “greater stamina” in unmanned underwater vehicle propulsion systems, to maintain naval dominance in the undersea domain.

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Scientists discover how to prevent dendrite formation in batteries

February 4, 2015 – via Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

For the first time, a team including experts at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory grew protective films around the anodes that prevented dendrites from forming.

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EdgeTech Releases New Tri-Frequency Side Scan Sonar System

February 4, 2015 – via EdgeTech

The new technology is the first AUV-based side scan sonar line to offer triple frequencies.

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