Intrepid robot is the Wall-E of the deep sea | Hacker News Reader

Intrepid robot is the Wall-E of the deep sea

wired.com

43 pointsrbanffy12 comments

I have an LCD projector in my studio almost permanently tuned into the live streams of various ocean exploring channels on Youtube, and it is truly a productivity booster .. it features the ROV's Nautilus and Argus - maybe not as cool as Benthic Rover II, but definitely a lot more accessible in terms of knowing what they're up to ..

https://www.youtube.com/c/EVNautilus

(Try the quad stream at first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPb9BxxuiaE)

Something about having this going on in the background really helps me focus. Probably one of the most exciting live streams on Youtube at the moment, and definitely a positive way to learn more about the beauty of life on this planet...

I watched the quad stream for a while (thanks for the link!) and what struck me is the desert I saw. Almost no life.

It was around https://goo.gl/maps/iJf6GQVs23hdTLK47 and I expected to see something, anything. I do not know the depth (I could not find it on the details screen) but still.

Yes, there are moments like that for quite some time .. I think especially because at the moment the expedition is focusing on geological surveys (mining companies paying the bill) .. but I encourage you to stay tuned because there are often moments of extraordinary beauty when random sea creatures show up to investigate the strange animal probing their depths. Truly a beautiful live stream ..

Check the highlights reel for the good stuff!

This story reminded me of a case of a 25 tonne deep sea mining robot that got detached at a depth of 4km: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/mining-robot-st... . I can't imagine how stressful this must have been for everyone involved. Fortunately the robot was recovered shortly after this incident.

There is something really cool about underwater drones, I want to get into it, even if it's just making my own in a stream/pond. Probably anthrophomorphization but still, good technical challenge too.

This video always stuck with me https://youtu.be/ytKzx2Xsukk?t=142

I wondered about the feasibility of a making a waterproof buoyant quadcopter with reversible ESCs, so that it can both fly in air and plunge under water.

(You'd want it to be buoyant so that in the event of an inevitable failure it floats rather than sinks)

I've seen some. Different variations. I probably should not have used the word drone... as that word seems to have been associated with multicopters. I just mean an autonomous vehicle.

I think one of the best designs are those gliders that use the sliding weight to propel themselves by gravity/lift. Best in terms of energy efficiency.

Cool video on that too how it works https://youtu.be/WVg47-5Skjs?t=76

Tangentially related, maybe something like this autonomous robot could help deal with all those drums of DDT that were dumped in the sea off LA.

Decontaminate the robot later would be really expensive probably. Those machines require huge investments in hours and money and must be managed, reviewed and operated by real people.

I’m willing to bet doing nothing with those drums will turn out to be more problematic than having to decontaminate a few robots.

How is it powered?

Also, it occurs to me that a hexapod may stir up less muck. Maybe a reason crabs evolved like that?

It's powered batteries, from the article:

At the back of the robot are two titanium spheres—each somewhere between the size of a yoga ball and a beach ball—filled with batteries that power a year of continuous operation.

It also has a sensor so it drives into the current.

The oversized treads make a mess of the seafloor. “Even though it is moving very slowly, it doesn't take much to create this huge dust storm,” says Sherman. “We always want to be driving into the current, so that it can push the sediment that is disturbed behind us.” So before the rover moves, it uses a sensor to get an idea of the current direction of the … er, current, then heads straight for it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com