Underwater archaeology is an exciting, but sometimes risky field of studies. To eliminate those risks a European research project, ARROWS, is working to develop robots that help humans in dangerous environments.
A now flooded Soviet-era quarry in Rummu, Estonia is one of the project’s test sites. Buildings and machinery were submerged after it was abandoned in the 1990s and now it’s a popular diving spot. The area is also ideal for testing a new robot, U-CAT, designed to help underwater archaeologists working on shipwrecks or similar sites.
Into inaccessible spaces
Explaining the device’s advantages Prof. Maarja Kruusmaa of Tallinn University of Technology’s Center for Biorobotics said: “It has to go into confined places, take video footage and come back again. It’s very little space sometimes there, so this robot can turn, manoeuvre around all axes, and come back.”
U-CAT works without remote control, following its program autonomously. Its sensors prevent collisions with wa
