BBC News, 5
December 2012
Related
Stories
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| The robot was fished out of the water in Byron Bay after completing its journey |
The
record-breaking 9,000 nautical mile (16,668km) trip took the PacX Wave Glider
just over a year to achieve.
Liquid
Robotics, the US company behind the project, collected data about the Pacific
Ocean's temperature, salinity and ecosystem from the drone.
The company
said its success demonstrated that such technology could "survive the high
seas".
The robot
is called Papa Mau in honour of the late Micronesian navigator Pius
"Mau" Piailug, who had a reputation for finding ways to navigate the
seas without using traditional equipment.
"During
Papa Mau's journey, [it] weathered gale-force storms, fended off sharks, spent
more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef, and finally
battled and surfed the east Australian current to reach his final destination
in Hervey Bay, near Bundaberg, Queensland," the company said in a statement.
Some of the
data it gathered about the abundance of phytoplankton - plant-like organisms
that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and provide food for other sea life -
could already be monitored by satellite. However, the company suggested that
its equipment offered more detail, providing a useful tool for climate model
scientists.
Ongoing
travels
Liquid
Robotics still has a further three robots at sea. A second is due to land in
Australia early next year. Another pair had been heading to Japan, but one of
them has suffered damage and has been diverted to Hawaii for repair.
Each robot
is composed of two halves: the upper part, shaped like a stunted surfboard, is
attached by a cable to a lower part that sports a series of fins and a keel.
They do not
use fuel but instead convert energy from the ocean's waves, turning it into
forward thrust.
Solar
panels installed on the upper surface of the gliders power numerous sensors
that take readings every 10 minutes.
 |
| Papa Mau was the first of the firm's four marine robots to complete its journey |
"The
ocean is a very big place and therefore a safe place to test autonomous robots
- these Wave Gliders move slowly and have a low risk of bumping into other
objects," he said.
"There
are also autonomous sailing competitions in which craft plot their journey
completely independently - unlike the Wave Gliders which autonomously follow a
prescribed route - and there are a variety of types: robots which bob on the
ocean surface, gliders and even fully autonomous submarines which plan their
own routes and dive to collect data.
"We
are reaching a tipping point in that the technology is becoming so cheap that
it's now a much cheaper to use a robot to gather data than to pay for a manned
ship to be at sea for months at a time."
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