MIT-Developed Submersible Robot Could Help Foil Smugglers

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A new football-sized underwater robot developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) could discreetly follow alongside a ship and perform ultrasound scans to search for smuggled contraband.
According to BetaWired reports, the submersible unit is oval-shaped with a flattened panel on one side which slides along a surface to perform the ultrasound scans. The robot was originally developed to search for fractures in the water tanks of nuclear reactors, but could also seek out false hulls and propeller shafts used by smugglers to hide their goods.
“Transport by sea has been a favorite of smugglers for centuries – it’s hard to patrol an entire coastline, and it’s easier to move a ton of stuff by sea than by land,” said Gizmodo reporter Chris Mills. “In the future, though, getting your contraband through a port might be made exponentially more difficult by this tiny, ultrasound-packing submersible robot.”
“The device is perfect for the job, not only because it’s small, but also because it doesn’t leave visible bubble trails as it moves underwater,” added Engadget’s Mariella Moon. “Also, its propulsion system’s housed within the permeable half of the device itself, so it can potentially hide in clumps of algae to avoid being spotted without getting itself tangled when it starts up. The other half is watertight and houses its circuits, batteries, antenna and other electrical components.”
The underwater robot was created by MIT graduate student Sampriti Bhattacharyya and engineering professor Harry Asada, who recently presented their work at the 2014 IEEE/International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Moon said. They said that if the device could be produced for roughly $600 per unit, port authorities would be able to use a fleet of 20 or more of them to perform inspections together.
“The duo used a 3D printer to make the device’s main components, but in order to offer the device at that price point, their mass production process needs to be low-cost, as well,” Moon added. “Right now, though, the two are focused on making a second prototype with wireless charging capabilities, longer battery life and the ability to perform ultrascans on ships without having to touch their barnacle-encrusted hulls.”
Bhattacharyya explained to Larry Hardesty of the MIT News Office that the elliptical shape of the robot makes it naturally unstable, and that this trait was intentional. She compared it to fighter jets, which are made unstable by design so that they can be maneuvered more easily – an asset that will help the robot when it is attempting to execute tight maneuvers, but a liability when it is attempting to travel in a straight line while scanning the hull of a ship.
The robot was designed so that all of the tubes exit it at different angles, Bhattacharyya said. This provides for the greatest degree of control over the machine’s instabilities. During initial tests, the MIT researchers only looked at the robot’s ability to navigate to an underwater surface and stay in contact with it while traveling in a straight line, Hardesty explained, so the current prototype unit has not yet been equipped with an ultrasound sensor.
The rechargeable lithium batteries used in the prototype last about 40 minutes, which the developers believe should give the robot enough time to inspect multiple small ships before needing to be recharged. Ideally, they view the units as being part of teams that could be rotated into and out of active duty in order to recharge, but Bhattacharyya pointed out that the next prototype would feature wirelessly rechargeable batteries and propulsion system modifications that could increase the robot’s operational time between changes to over 1 1/2 hours.
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FOR THE KINDLE: The History of 3D Printing: redOrbit Press