Soft robot?

Check out the “soft” AUV that a team of Chinese researchers have developed and tested in the Mariana Trench!

A BlueROV2 with Newton Gripper was used to release the little “mantabot” at depths of 8m and 70m during its testing phase, before the little flapper dove to 3,224m in the South China Sea and then 10,900m in the Mariana Trench.

Full article at: TechExplore 04mar21 and Nature.com

Undersea’s Filmmaker for benthic sampling

We have been working with UOW (University of Wollongong) and DPI (Department of Primary Industries, NSW) to film and sample benthic assemblages off the Wollongong coast, and plan to be back at it again next week.  We use our own customised ROV, dubbed Filmmaker, fitted with stereo cameras, a Newton Gripper, downward-facing cameras and lasers.  Filmmaker has been used for filming/sampling when the vessel is stationary, and as a controllable towed unit using a forward bridle.

Underwater “Trail Camera”

Check out this new, underwater “trail camera” by SpotX that is triggered by a Vemco acoustic tag:

Similar to a wildlife trail camera, the Spot X underwater camera trap can trigger a camera based on a range of input stimuli. The first use-case triggers a GoPro Hero 8 Black using the ping recorded by a VEMCO/InnovaSea VR2 receiver. However the system is flexible and can interpret PWM, RS-232 or any other analog sensor signal, and can be customised to work with many other cameras.

spotx.com.au/underwater-camera-trap/underwater-camera-trap

Download images from FIFISH V6

A couple of quick tips when downloading photos or videos from your FIFISH V6:

  • Best microSD card to use is series 10, 64GB microSD card, formatted as EXFAT
  • Make sure your devices are all fully charged before you start copying files
  • In the FIFISH App, go to MEDIA, DEVICE, choose your media type and press and hold the thumbnail in order to activate the “selection function”. You should see three lime-green buttons appear at the bottom of the screen. Select the images you want to copy, START, then choose where you want to send the files

You can find an online video tutorial at QYSEA SUPPORT for further help

And if you are having problems downloading the image files to microSD, try again with a brand new card.