Turtle robot dives shipwrecks and underwater disaster zones

Researchers at the Center for Bio-Robotics, part of Tallinn University of Technology, have created a new robot called “U-CAT” that’s small enough to get into areas that today’s underwater robotic vehicles are otherwise too big to access. 

U-CAT imitates a turtle with four mechanical “flippers” that give it the ability to hover, turn in place, and move forward / backward with utmost ease. What’s more, the underwater bot lacks a tether, which would otherwise slow down and hamper its movement.

“Conventional underwater robots use propellers for locomotion. Fin propulsors of U-CAT can drive the robot in all directions without disturbing water and beating up silt from the bottom, which would decrease visibility inside the shipwreck,” said Taavi Salumäe, designer of the U-CAT and researcher in the Centre for Biorobotics at the Tallinn University of Technology.

U-CAT comes equipped with a camera that can record its journey through all of the tiny nooks and crannies of underwater disaster zones. This is immensely helpful, since not being able to move around in differently sized spaces, coupled with limited visibility, are often the biggest hinderences when exploring these areas.

Check out U-CAT in action below:

U-CAT is scheduled for a testing in the Baltic Sea first, before moving over to the Mediterranean Sea afterwards. During the latter stages of the testing, it will work with larger robots as well as a new team of archaeologists as part of the ARROWS project, an EU initiative geared towards the development of robots for underwater archaeology.

Story via ttu.ee