A new, patent-pending underwater robot developed at Purdue University’s College of Engineering could improve ocean research, underwater infrastructure inspection and search-and-rescue efforts by adapting to the needs of the mission in real time, acting as drifter, glider or thruster when necessary. Â
Yu She, assistant professor in the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering, has developed underwater robot technology that can adapt how it moves during a mission.
“It changes how it moves depending on what the mission needs: to conserve energy, travel farther, follow currents, actively reposition or escape from a constrained region,” he said.
Yu She said a major challenge in underwater robotics is that different mission phases require different locomotion: passive drifting, buoyancy-driven gliding and thruster-driven propulsion. Each has strengths and drawbacks.
“Our technology integrates all three locomotion modes into a single compact underwater platform,” he said. “The robot chooses the appropriate mode depending on the mission requirement or environmental condition rather than being locked into one.”
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