Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Autonomous robot maps ship hulls for mines

Autonomous robot maps ship hulls for mines
For years, the U.S. Navy has employed human divers, equipped with sonar cameras, to search for underwater mines attached to ship hulls.  The Navy has also trained dolphins and sea lions to search for bombs on and around vessels. While animals can cover a large area in a short amount of time, they are costly to train and care for, and don’t always perform as expected.