Creepy human-like robot created to explore dark depths of ocean
A HUMANOID robot with cameras for eyes and the dexterity to operate a camera has recovered artifacts from beneath the ocean’s surface.
The OceanOneK is a product of the Stanford Robotics Lab and researchers think the bot applications in infrastructure repairs, ecological protection efforts, and more.
The humanoid robot has two arms with seven joints each, a face with camera eyeballs, and eight thrusters for gliding through the water.
The bot can withstand the pressure 1,000 meters down thanks to its foam body and buoyancy system, according to a Stanford press release.
“This is something that I believe will allow us to go underwater and perform tasks to help the environment, to recover artifacts for archeology or to repair structures,” Oussama Khatib, Director of Stanford Robotics said in a video discussing OceanOneK.
In July, the OceanOneK dropped to almost 500 meters below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea and retrieved vases from an ancient Roman shipwreck.
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“The interface to connect the human to the robot is just amazing,” Khatib said.
The robot has haptic sensors in the hands that will deconstruct and relay physical contact back to the operator controlling the bot.
The OceanOneK replicates a human’s field of vision with a camera in each eyeball for a three-dimensional display.
“You can feel that you are really immersed in the underwater environment without actually getting wet.”
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The bot can also operate a camera attached to the end of a rod.
“It makes a huge difference because it can film or it can explore so much more than just using the robot itself,” said Bo Kim, a graduate student at the Stanford Robotics Lab and OceanOneK team member.
The robot’s robotic arm failed during its first deep dive but ran at full strength and operated the camera on its second attempt.
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The OceanOneK even owns its own exciting seafaring tale.
Khatib explained that the students working on OceanOneK had to open the bot and make repairs on the deck of a bot “at night, under the wind, and during a storm,” in the press release.