Veolia Water Technologies by GineersNow Engineering Magazine GineersNow Engineering Magazine September 2016 | Page 22

This Robot Mermaid
Lends a Helping Hand
in Ocean Exploration
Recently, a not-so-ordinary diver
visited the shipwreck La Lune in
Mediterranean waters, a vessel
in King Louis XIV fleet which was
untouched and unexplored on the
ocean floor since it sank in 1664.
What makes this quest so special
is the fact that the diver that
visited the wreck isn’t a human,
it’s a robot.
Meet “OceanOne”, an orange
diving robot-slash-mermaid that
was designed to help out in ocean
exploration. It is about 5 feet and
like a mermaid, its torso is human-
shaped. It has stereoscopic vision
and it has articulated arms. Its
lower body contains its computer
brain, power supply and eight
multidirectional thrusters.
Remotely operated vehicles
(ROV) are already commonly used
for ocean exploration. OceanOne
is special because it was not only
designed to investigate parts of
the ocean, but it can also do so
with the flexibility and dexterity
of a human diver.
OceanOne is guided by a
computer scientist from a boat.
OceanOne is a combination of
artificial intelligence, sensory
feedback and mechanical artwork
to be able to perform needed
tasks underwater. For example,
retrieving sensitive artifacts from
the wreck and securing it in a
box so it could be brought to the
surface.
Photo by LiveScience
22
SEPTEMBER 2016
Clean Water Technologies