Stanford scientists have recently developed a robot that can explore the ocean's mysterious depths! This humanoid robot has an impressive capability of diving up to one kilometer (0.6 miles) underwater.
The robot, known as OceanOneK, features a portion of its body that resembles a human, including arms that can function like a human.
Lifelike Sensations
The robot has a head, and its two eyes are equipped with separate cameras. Hence, anyone controlling the robot may experience what it would be like to explore deep-water sites such as sunken ships, thanks to its impressive features!
OceanOneK can carefully maneuver underwater owing to its eight multi-directional thrusters on its thinner, humanoid upper half.
According to the Stanford University team, the haptic, touch-based feedback system of the robot and stereoscopic vision provided astonishingly lifelike sensations that were equivalent to what he would have felt if he had been below the surface instead of being above the control ship.
Standford Roboticist Oussama Khatib saw and felt a kaleidoscope of life that consists of pink, rusty-orange, and green after looking through the robot's eyes and feeling through its hands. This occurred when OceanOneK dove 500m below the Mediterranean Sea when it navigated through the sunken Italian steamship "Le Francesco Crispi."
"I'd never experienced anything like that in my life. I can say I'm the one who touched the Crispi at 500 m. And I did - I touched it, I felt it," Khatib said in Stanford's press release.
He is the Weichai Professor in the School of Engineering and director of the Stanford Robotics Lab.
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Mediterranean Tour
OceanOneK's voyage to these depths has two objectives: to explore the previously unexplored territory and to demonstrate that human touch, vision, and interaction can be conveyed to locations far from where people can function.
Khatib added that this is the first instance of a robot interacting with the environment at such a depth and allowing the human operator to experience it.
The dive to the Crispi in February was part of OceanOneK's Mediterranean tour, which began in September 2021 with two dives near Marseille to a World War II P-38 Lightning aircraft at a depth of 40 meters and a submarine, Le Protée, which is 124 meters deep.
OceanOneK's Origins
An underwater robot dubbed OceanOne that could dive 200 meters beneath the surface was previously constructed by researchers at Stanford University.
However, OceanOneK needed some tweaks so that it could dive deeper, according to the robotics team.
They modified the robot's body with specialized foam so that it could float while still withstanding the enormous pressure that is present at a depth of 1 kilometer, which is 100 times more than at sea level.
OceanOneK will have more expeditions planned in several locations across the globe, including lost civilizations buried beneath deep lakes, coral reefs, and many more.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
