Scientists to release swarms of robots into the oceans

The Star III in front of the Scripps Institute for Oceanography. Photo by Johntex, CC-BY-SA 3.0

 In yet another version of life imitating art, the National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced that scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography will be developing swarms of tiny robots called autonomous underwater explorers (AUEs) to swirl about in the currents of the ocean recording detailed information about flow dynamics experienced by tiny sea creatures who float at the mercy of the ocean’s movement. Those familiar with the movie “Twister” will recall a similar, though fictional, set of swarming data sensors that were set adrift in the powerful air currents of a tornado by the film’s heroic storm-chasers. Although far less dangerous than physically inserting the sensors into the eye of a tornado, the Scripps Institution’s swarm of ocean sensor robots will function much like the Twister sensors did.

According to a press release by the NSF, which is funding the work, the proposed design will allow a group of small sensor robots, or AUEs, to float in the ocean currents recording the microcurrents that swirl within the larger water movements which will also be recorded. The data, says Peter Franks, one of the efforts lead scientists, will help researchers “get a sense of the physics driving current flows.” From a practical application, the data should help monitor oil spills, algal blooms, and even nutrient dispersion in critical fish nursery habitats. The AUE swarm could be used in spot applications to determine where a crashed plane’s black box was carried by ocean currents in order to aid searchers in locating and retrieving it from the ocean floor.

One or more larger robots, the size of a soccer ball, will be released with each swarm of the smaller ocean sensor robots, presumably with the capacity to record the data from each of the discrete sensors and communicate that information back to data collection teams or at least keep researchers apprised of the swarm’s location.

Franks, along with co-leader Jules Jaffe, will head up the effort to build a handful of the larger soccer ball sized AEUs and as many as 20 of the smaller AUE sensor robots. A time frame for completion of the pilot phase or the overall project was not provided.

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