A humanoid diving robot investigates shipwrecks on the ocean floor.

 A humanoid diving robot investigates shipwrecks on the ocean floor.

In a way that humans might, a robot developed at Stanford University in California is diving down to sunken ships and planes. The Ocean One K robot gives its users the impression that they are also underwater explorers.

From the front, Ocean One K looks like a human diver, complete with hands, arms, and 3D-capable eyes that record the underwater world in vivid color. 

 

 

A humanoid diving robot

Ocean One Robot

 

The robot's eight multidirectional thrusters and eight computers on its back allow it to precisely navigate the locations of vulnerable sunken ships.

Ocean OneK's haptic (touch-based) feedback system allows an operator at the ocean's surface to control the robot while simultaneously feeling the outlines of objects and the resistance of the water.

Ocean OneK's realistic sight and touch capabilities are sufficient to give users the impression that they are submerging themselves in the ocean's depths, but without the risks or intense pressure that would normally be present for human divers.

In September, deep-sea archaeologists and Stanford University roboticist Oussama Khatib's students started sending the robot on dives. In July, the group just returned from another underwater expedition.

OceanOneK has so far investigated a sunken Beechcraft Baron F-GDPV plane, the Italian steamship Le Francesco Crispi, a Roman ship from the second century off the coast of Corsica, a P-38 Lightning aircraft from World War II, and a submarine called Le Protée.

The Crispi is located around 500 meters (1,640 ft) beneath the Mediterranean Sea's surface.

The Weichai Professor in the Stanford School of Engineering and the head of the Stanford Robotics Lab, Khatib, said, "You are moving very close to this magnificent structure, and something incredible happens when you touch it: You actually feel it.

"Never in my life had I gone through anything like it. I am able to claim to have touched the Crispi at 500. (meters). I touched it and felt it, so I did."

OceanOneK may only be the start of a future when robots do underwater exploration that is too risky for humans and change the way we perceive oceans.

constructing a robot for the ocean

Building a robot that could withstand an underwater environment and the intense pressure at varying depths was the problem in the development of OceanOneK and its predecessor, OceanOne, according to Khatib.

The destroyed flagship La Lune of King Louis XIV, which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the coast of southern France, is where OceanOne made its premiere in 2016. The 1664 shipwreck was never discovered by anybody.

Khatib felt the feelings in his hands when OceanOne touched the vase before putting it in a recovery basket when the robot recovered a vase roughly the size of a grapefruit.

The desire to investigate coral reefs in the Red Sea at depths beyond those accessible to divers gave rise to the concept for OceanOne. The Stanford researchers combined artificial intelligence, cutting-edge robotics, and haptic input to develop a device that was as similar to a human diver as feasible.
The robot measures approximately 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length, and its brain can detect

Coral or sea-weathered antiquities must be handled carefully to prevent shattering. Although the bot can be controlled by an operator, it is equipped with sensors and has algorithms installed so that it can operate independently and prevent collisions.

OceanOne was built to travel as deep as 656 feet (200 meters), but scientists changed the name to OceanOneK to reflect their new objective of 1 kilometer (0.62 miles).

The scientists modified the robot's body by filling it with specialized foam containing glass microspheres to boost buoyancy and withstand pressures 1,000 meters above sea level, which are more than 100 times greater than those experienced by humans at sea level.