Meet Subsea Robots That Can Shift Their Shape

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Subsea robots fulfill various missions in data collection, but not all of them are capable of reaching long ranges. Aquanaut is a multipurpose subsea robot which employs a patented shape-shifting transformation from an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), removing the need for vessels and tethers. The vehicle enables both the efficient collection of data over long distances as well as manipulation of subsea objects at a significantly lower cost than today’s technology.

Houston Mechatronics said Aquanaut, and their tightly coupled over-the-horizon software Commander, enables to deliver more feature rich, safer subsea services to commercial and defense customers that demand it, according to prnewswire.com.

Aquanaut was designed to operate over-the-horizon with onshore operator supervision. The need for onsite vessels (and people) has been removed from subsea work while still maintaining the operator’s situational awareness and the ability to modify missions. For the warfighter, this means increasing the standoff distance therefore resulting in safer conditions.

The company CEO Matthew Ondler said: “Our team developed some of the most advanced robots that NASA ever produced and has been developing advanced subsea robotics technology for confidential customers for years.”