Welcome To The Future: Diving Robot Explores 17th Century Shipwreck

Powered by artificial intelligence and haptic feedback systems, Stanford University’s humanoid diving robot looks poised to open up a whole new realm of ocean exploration.

Called OceanOne, the robot has just finished its maiden dive exploring the wreck of the La Lune. The flagship of King Louis XIV’s fleet sank 20 miles off the southern coast of France in 1664. A team of skilled deep-sea archaeologists, who had studied the site, helped the robot’s pilot navigate the wreck, which sits in 100 metres of water.

The prototype robot is controlled via a set of joysticks, which can be operated from the safety of a boat. It is five foot long, has two fully articulated arms and stereoscopic vision. Batteries, computers and eight multi-directional thrusters are housed in the ‘tail’. The pilot controlling the robo-mermaid can also feel how hard it has grasped something via articulated wrists fitted with force sensors.

OceanOne was controlled on her maiden voyage by Stanford’s computer science professor, Oussama Khatib.

Speaking to the university’s Stanford News Service, he said: “You can feel exactly what the robot is doing. It’s almost like you are there; with the sense of touch you create a new dimension of perception.”

OceanOne can hold its buoyancy in the water via sensors which continually gauge current and turbulence. If the body moves, thrusters automatically activate to keep the robot in place. Sensors and cameras are used for navigation, and the robot runs algorithms to prevent it from crashing into anything.