Groundbreaking Marine Robot Unveiled by Seatrec with NASA Funding
TapTechNews June 21 news, The Robot Report, a technology media, reported that under the funding of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Seatrec has spent more than a decade in R & D and began to launch a brand-new marine robot that doesn't need to be recharged and can freely explore the ocean.
Development History
Seatrec was founded in 2011, and its founder and CEO YiChao once worked at JPL. After he first proposed this concept, he got the help of two JPL colleagues, and then signed a contract with the US Navy to explore this brand-new power robot. TapTechNews attaches the relevant video as follows:
Seatrec has invented a new type of underwater robot, which theoretically does not need to refill fuel or recharge, and mainly generates electricity through the kinetic energy generated by temperature fluctuations, which can roam freely in the ocean indefinitely.
The company claims that compared with traditional underwater robots, the advantage of this system is that it can eliminate the battery wreckage on the seabed.
Working Principle
This system is similar to a cylindrical buoy, appropriately called the infiniTE buoy, and mainly depends on phase change materials to switch between solid and liquid states when the robot dives and surfaces.
This unique material has a melting point of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), which is between the average ocean temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 degrees Celsius) and 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21.1 degrees Celsius), so it is very suitable for this job.
When the robot dives into the cold deep sea, a paraffin-based material will solidify and contract, forcing the hydraulic fluid to charge the robot's battery through a miniature generator. When the robot heads to the warmer surface waters, this material will melt and expand, thereby restarting the cycle.
Uses
This technology will bring a large number of opportunities for ocean exploration and monitoring. First of all, oceanographers can map about 80% of the seafloor map, which is still an unknown area. Seatrec has also used the prototype to measure the intensity of the hurricane in the bay area and conduct field tests on the robot.
The company is cooperating with the Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise of the University of Southern Mississippi to study the extremely endangered Rice's whale in the Gulf of Mexico.
The team will deploy two versions of the infiniTE floating system, one is used to track marine conditions such as temperature that affect the whale's habitat, and the other uses a hydrophone to list en to the sound of the whale.