It is the day of another milestone in the arena of ‘Robotics’, as Indian-origin researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed a next-generation ‘thinking’ robotic sea turtle for underwater use.
These sea turtles which can mimic natural behaviors are capable of doing complicated tasks like energy harvesting and surveillance.
As per the NUS Scientists, this underwater robotic sea turtle can think for itself, and it will do all the things a turtle does. It will dive, swim and swarm and will resemble a natural one in all its moves.
The scientists hope to build many more robotic sea turtles and fishes in the future to perform hazardous missions like detecting nuclear wastes underwater, and other tasks which may turn harmful for humans.
A team of researchers led by Associate Professor S K Panda is currently busy with the final works of a robotic sea turtle which can move underwater just like a natural one. This robotic turtle has the capability to dive deeper sea depths without any hassles.
As per Panda, a robotic turtle made by NUS does not use a ballast system which is commonly used in other underwater robots for diving functions.
The absence of ballast system makes it lighter and smaller, and thus it can perform more complicated tasks with bigger payloads. It can also enter vertical tunnels and pipes with smaller diameters in the sea bed.
Researcher Abhra Roy Chowdhury added that the team has developed four other prototypes which are scalable, modular and possess stealth features.