New Robotic Vessel extends deep ocean exploration by Lihui. AUV means Autonomous Under - Water Vehicle. France, Russia, Japan and the US have these vehicles are very costly. Now, China has also developed its own AUV Cr 01. It can go down up to 6000 meters. It can remain under water for a long tome and take still and video pictures.

Exploring the deep ocean is a technological challenge. The pressure of the sea water is one challenge. It also risky and dangerous. But, it offers economic and scientific rewards. We can know about the Topography and the Hydrology of the seabed. We can explore under water mineral resources and recover sunken objects.

AUV is torpedo-shaped. It is 4.4 meters long and 0.8 meters in diameter. It is big and heavy, as it weighs 1300 kilometers. It can use durable batteries. It can move at a speed of 2 knots. The AUV yses 5 ranging sonars to avoid collisions. For navigation, it uses a baseline acoustic system. This can cover an area of about 40 kilometers. The robot can raise automatically an alarm and flash lights in case of an emergency.

To collect samples, the robot has no external devices. It has a camera that holds four hours of tape. With this, it takes upto 3000 photos. It uses side scanning sonars for locating mineral deposits. Its profiler can tell us about the depth of these deposits.

The Chinese tried their first AUV in 1985. In 1992, they turned to Russia for help. The china Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association has plans to explore the pacific for mineral resources. It plans to get one more AUV with the help of other countries.

• Written by Vijay.
• In category New Technologies.
• 14 years ago.

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