This is one of the larger versions that they’ve created to date, measuring 5 feet 7 inches across and weighing 170 pounds. The project was funded by the US Navy, presumably because the military has some interest in using this technology for surveillance or other purposes, but the researchers see how this could be used effectively for ocean monitoring or the cleaning up of oil spills. An earlier version, called RoboJelly, was about the size of a human hand.

The Cyro robot itself has eight mechanical arms extending from its central water-sealed brain and then a silicone skin is laid on top of that. The movement of the Cyro is similar to that of a jellyfish, which is incredibly efficient. They hope that as they improve the design, the Cyro will be able to head out on its own for months at a time. Indeed, the larger the model, the longer the range it could have.

Check out the demo video below, which includes an interview with VT College of Engineering graduate student Alex Villanueva.

[Source]

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We’ve all heard of predator drones that take to the air, being remotely controlled by someone at a safe distance, but why can’t the same idea be taken to the water? That’s exactly what the Piranha concept from Zyvex Marine aims to achieve and it offers some impressive advantages over conventional boats.

In the context of the military, the first advantage is that this vessel is unmanned. Dubbed a USV (unmanned surface vehicle), the Piranha can be operated from just about anywhere, keeping our soldiers at a safe distance. The second advantage is that the Piranha is made of Avorex, a proprietary “nano-enhanced” carbon fiber from Zyvex. It’s lighter weight and, along with getting rid of any need to hold actual people, this makes it far more efficient.

According to Zyvex, it can cruise at 24 knots (44km/h) for an hour on just 12 US gallons. Compare that to the 50 gallons that a “traditional” boat would consume over the same period at the same speed. This allows for a greater range (the 8,000 pound boat can carry a payload of 15,000 pounds for 2500 miles). Zyvex plans on continuing this range with the LRV-11 and LRV-17 platforms, both of which will be offered in unmanned or manned versions. I imagine the future of warfare would lean toward the former.

[Source via PRWeb]

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What you see in the above picture is Robojelly, a robot jellyfish designed by the researchers at Virginia Tech, which could be very useful in the future for underwater surveillance or search and rescue operations. You might be thinking that there is nothing new about a robot inspired by nature, but the robot jellyfish has a new trick up its sleeve. Theoretically, the Robojelly will go on working without ever running out of energy, as long as it’s in water.

The Robojelly is powered by hydrogen and is made up of materials called shape-memory alloys. Just in case you are preparing to refer to Wikipedia, shape-memory alloys are materials which are capable of returning to their original shape when heat is applied. The robot mimics a jellyfish’s movements via eight moving segments wrapped in platinum-coated carbon nanotubes.

When the oxygen and hydrogen in the water react with platinum powder, heat will be produced. The alloys will change shape due to this heat and propulsion occurs all thanks to the opening and closing movements of the segments.

The research paper has been published in the journal of Smart Materials and Structures and the project was led by Yonas Tadesse. According to him, “To our knowledge, this is the first successful powering of an underwater robot using external hydrogen as a fuel source”.

In the video, you will find an electricity-powered version of the Robojelly swimming in a water tank. The hydrogen-powered robot needs more work to be done on it and has only been tested while it’s clamped to the tank’s bottom. They are currently working to increase its maneuverability.

So, this is a robot which can stay underwater for a very long time as it can refuel itself from the water around it. That’s certainly very innovative. And yeah, almost forgot, the research is US Navy-backed, and you know what that means. Enemy submarines beware!

[Image Source]

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The lost city of Atlantis disappears again and who else could trigger the vanishing act in the 21st century other than Google!

The internet giant, in a drive to clean up, or rather upgrade, its ocean mapping system, has removed from Google Earth the image which was believed to be that of the lost city of Atlantis.

The image was discovered in 2009, giving the Atlantis hunters a ray of hope that it could be the remains of the ancient city as it lay in an area that was believed to be where the original city was located.

The image in question here was recorded in an area off the coast of Morocco called the Madeira Abyssal Plane.  It shows a grid system on the ocean floor, indicating possible city blocks according to believers, but the ever-skeptic Google had always maintained that it was caused by an error in its ship’s sound imaging instruments that was used to map the ocean floor.

What is evident is that the latest disappearance of Atlantis is an attempt by Google to improve the quality of Google Earth’s underwater imaging, a joint effort by the internet giants with Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Navy.

Scripps geophysicist David Sandwell was quoted by the institute’s website last week that “UCSD undergraduate students spent the past three years identifying and correcting the blunders as well as adding all the multi-beam echosounder data archived at the National Geophysical Data Center in Boulder, Colorado”.

The update coincides with the third anniversary of the launch of Google Earth’s 3D ocean. According to Google, 15 percent of the ocean floor (from an earlier 10 percent) is now visible at a resolution of 1km after the changes. Google Earth’s oceanic maps are now on par with the ones used by researchers.

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Boeing might be a company better known for developing all kinds of aircraft, but they do other things, too. For instance, Boeing partnered up with BAE Systems to develop an advanced laser weapon system for the United States Navy. The net result is this: The Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System.

What makes this different from other laser weapon systems is that it combines both kinetic and directed energy weapons capabilities. This latches on to existing shipboard command interfaces and works in tandem with the widely used M242 Bushmaster 25mm Chain Gun. They get 2.5km of range and selectable rates of fire with this bad boy. The laser part provides incredible precision and accuracy against both surface and air targets.

While BAE Systems and Boeing have been working together for two years on developing a Tactical Laser System, BAE was only awarded the initial $2.8 million contract from the US Navy in March 2011.

Reading this story, I couldn’t help but to think of air quotes and Doctor Evil. That said, I’m sure it’ll cost way more than (pinky finger to lips) one million dollars by the time they’re done. There are also no sharks involved, unless they do decide to strap these frickin’ laser beams to their frickin’ foreheads.

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The Navy is still confused about the situation, not knowing what caused the disconnect, and why the drone did not return. Commander Danny Hernandez, a Navy spokesman, told the NYT “When they lose contact with the Fire Scout, there’s a program that’s supposed to have it immediately return to the airfield to land safely. That did not happen as planned.”

As a result, all 6 Fire Scout drones have been grounded. The Navy did eventually regain control of the drone somewhere in D.C. half-hour and 23 miles later, but that’s enough to take a serious look at the so called “software glitch” that caused it. Let’s just hope these things aren’t carrying live ammunition.

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