U-CAT robotic sea turtle set to explore shipwrecks
stuck turtles rarely make the news, it's also due to the
fact that they're relatively small and highly maneuverable. With that in mind,
the European Union-funded ARROWS project has created U-CAT – a prototype
robotic sunken-ship-exploring sea turtle.
U-CAT has four independently-driven flippers that allow it
to move up and down, forward and backward, and to pivot on the spot. Propellers
would let it do those same things, although they'd also churn up much more
visibility-limiting silt in the process.
Researchers at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia
said underwater robots currently being used by the oil and gas and defence
industries are too big and expensive for exploring wrecks. They also tend to
kick up silt in the water, which reduces visibility.
U-CAT is autonomous, so it doesn't require a control cable
that could get snagged or tangled. It also has an onboard video camera, which
records video that can later be used to visually map out the inside of the shipwreck.
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