Robot touches the water

One of the main challenges for the robots, which are engaged in repairing a cable on the seabed – a precise definition of the injury. The muddy bottom at a depth of tens of meters of a lantern fixed on the robot does not always allow the operator on the computer screen to consider what is happening under the water is clear enough. To solve this problem have tried to experts of Institute of Technology and Applied Research Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen (Germany).

During a recent exhibition of technology in Nuremberg researchers presented a robot octopus, which is equipped with special sensors. The sensors help the robot in the pitch darkness of their own “touch” objects. The main advantage of sensors in that they are not glued to the surfaces of the robot, as printed on them. That is, sensors can be applied to any curved surface of the robot is close enough to each other, to surround the image on the computer screen at the operator was sufficiently clear. Printed stripe sensor, hermetically protected from the sea water, has a thickness of half a human hair.