2008 Trends in Robotic Underwater Technology

It looks like the Russians and the Americans areUniversity robotics, science and engineering
breaking new records under our seas as they godepartments are working on all sorts of ROVs, UUVs,
deeper and discover more and more unique things.and mini-submarines for nearly any type of use such
While NASA studies other planets, asteroids meteors,as:
suns and moons, we have yet to discover or- Environmental Remediation and Monitoring
document over 1/2 of the surface of our planet, which- Oceanography Research
lies under our giant oceans.- Underwater Mapping
So what have we found? Several new species for- Underwater Geology
one thing and we have erased previous thought to be- Port Security
known facts about underwater volcanoes. It appears- Oil and Natural Resource Exploration
much of those old research papers must now be- Net-Centric Warfare Exploits
re-written with new theories attached.- Sea Life Study
We have discovered enormous formationsIn fact, just about anything you can think of having to
underwater that we did not believe possible made ofdo with such underwater robotic technology has made
known elements of our periodic tables and compoundsstrides in 2008 and many who study this area of
that defy our current knowledge.science and technology, as well as many futurists
Robotic Unmanned Underwater Vehicles have madebelieve this is the tip of the iceberg and we will
great advances this year both in the private sectorcontinue to see new innovations each and every year.
and the public sector, as well as the military. TheManned submarines have also broken records this
private sector uses these subs for exploration,year.
research and underwater infrastructures like cables.