Remote Underwater Exploration
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
The Royal Australian Navy is training members in the use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) at the Australian Maritime College (AMC), based in northern Tasmania.
Under the deal, up to 80 Navy personnel will study in Tasmania each year and be taught by AMC staff how to use AUVs to enhance the country’s war fighting efforts.
Full article at: ABCNews 28feb21
More and more organizations are moving away from the use and release of balloons in any form, for good reason. A study by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and CSIRO found that, although hard plastic accounts for the vast majority of debris ingested by seabirds, it is far less likely to kill than soft plastics such as balloons. “Although soft plastics accounted for just 5% of the items ingested, they were responsible for more than 40% of the mortalities”.
Full article at: Australasian Science May/Jun2019
Study results at: Nature.com/Scientific Reports
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.
