Australian start-up Aquabotix this week launched SwarmDiver, a micro-aquatic drone that may deal with floor and underwater missions as a single car or in a swarm.
In swarms of 30 models, the drones can dive on command and gather underwater information for surveying, aquatic analysis, surveillance and reconnaissance for navy and industrial customers.
“This vehicle is a game-changer for both the industry and Aquabotix,” Aquabotix CEO Whitney Million stated. “Until today, there were simply no micro hybrid USV/UUV vehicles and no swarming unmanned vehicles with diving capabilities, commercially available in the industry. Aquabotix has changed that.”
“In addition to defense and security applications, SwarmDiver can be deployed in research, harbor management and oceanography.”
Whitney added the Sydney-based firm is responding to a requirement for aquatic drones by navies worldwide, calling the main target a “revolution in underwater technologies.”
SwarmDiver Features
- miniaturized – weighing three.75 kilos at a size of two.5 toes;
- vertical dive functionality;
- skill to function as each a UUV (diving underwater) and a USV (on the floor);
- 164-feet dive-depth;
- wi-fi information suggestions upon surfacing;
- excessive accuracy temperature (+/-Zero.1℃) and stress sensor (+/- 2cm depth);
- extra sensor payloads accessible.
Earlier this yr, Aquabotix introduced the discharge of the Integra AUV/ROV (autonomous underwater car/remotely operated car) that enables customers to conduct a number of underwater missions, whereas offering a cost-efficient various to deploying separate AUVs and ROVs for individualized duties.
The Integra is supplied with configurable sensor arrays and may be deployed by a single person. Aquabotix officers say the AUV is good for scientific analysis, inspections or law-enforcement/protection ops.
Most drone firms focus on aerial UAVs; nonetheless, aquatic drones are diving right into a rising sector focused in the direction of marine-based firms and researchers.
- At CES 2017, PowerVision Robot Corporation unveiled the PowerRay, an underwater drone designed to enhance freshwater, saltwater or ice fishing for each informal and leisure anglers.
- In 2016, Fathom, a Michigan-based start-up, launched improvement of an aquatic, football-shaped drone with a mannequin that may join with a wise system to assemble video or pictures underwater.
- In 2015, Search Systems Ltd., a number one UAV producer within the UK, developed the Mariner 600, an unmanned multicopter with aquatic touchdown functionality and interchangeable aerial and marine digital camera views.