MIT Researchers develop New UUV that plans its Own Missions

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MIT Researchers develop New UUV that plans its Own Missions

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new autonomous underwater vehicle (UUV) that could be helpful in exploring the earth’s oceans, discover new things about marine species and their habitats. The new UUV could also be used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to discover new things in the solar system.

According to Uncover Michigan , the UUV by MIT researchers used artificial intelligence to set its priorities, adjust itself after observing the situation and execute minor repairs. At present, the researchers have been spending time to write scripts and command to tell the robot about the mission. The new system first decides the objectives then decides which task to perform first. While monitoring the circumstances, the new system decides how to achieve the goals.

Brian Williams, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and lead researcher, said the new system is based on Star Trek. The UUV perform on a number of programs. There is always a captain that makes the decision, makes plans for the missions and then decides when and where to go. The UUV also has a navigator that decides the suitable path to achieve the objectives, according to Williams.

In a statement, Williams said that the system can be given choices like select this or that path to meet the goal. “What the system does is, it makes those choices, but makes sure it satisfies all the timing constraints and doesn’t collide with anything along the way. So it has the ability to adapt to its environment”, Williams added.

According to the researchers, they tested the new system in March this year on a research cruise off Australia. During the test, the MIT researchers, the Australian Center for Field Robotics, the University of Rhode Island and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute performed tests on a number of UUVs.