The REMUS 6000: Underwater Treasure Robot

Image from www.hydriod.com

 I consider myself an aviation person.  My head turns when an unmanned aerial system (UAS), airplane or helicopter passes over.  I've been that way since I had ears and eyes. That's why I became a professional pilot, shaking my eyes out of focus and losing my hearing bouncing around in rotary-wing anythings.  Now, another type of robot is peaking my interest: autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs.  

 The world beneath the ocean remains an undiscovered sea of unfathomable tales, and well fish too.  Some say that the Garden of Eden is no longer above ground naked in the sun but covered by the northern, sandy shoreline of the Persian Gulf veiled by millions of gallons of water pushing and pulling sentiment over human-kind's origin.  Whether you believe in the Garden of Eden or not, there are untold numbers of mysterious underwater puzzles, clues and treasures that can still be discovered... with a little help.

 A few weeks ago, I read about an AUV that discovered a $17 billion dollar shipwreck in the Carribean (see Figure 1).  The ship is named the San Jose, sinking after trading canon balls with a British warship in the year 1708 (Berke, 2018).  If only the British had known what the San Jose was loaded with. They may have won the American Revolutionary War with all the extra money.
         Figure 1. Cannons and treasure on the sea floor from the San Jose (Berke, 2018).

 The AUV that discovered this long lost shipwreck is called the Remus 6000, a completely autonomous underwater submarine.  The Remus 6000 can be programmed to grid search an undersea area, taking sonar readings, returning to take photographic images of interesting objects (Woods Hole, 2018). The Remus 6000 is fitted with a "pencil beam sonar collision avoidance system," and a sonar ability with pre-laid buoys that permits real-time communication between external operators and the robot.  If anything goes wrong, the unit can either surface and broadcast it's GPS position or return to a pre-designated location (if able) (Woods Hole, 2018).

 The technology behind these AUVs has nothing to do with submerging beneath the waves. The miniaturization of sonar scanning devices, autonomous programming and satellite links have made AUVs highly maneuverable robots capable of human free searches.

 Like many unmanned systems on land and in the air, AUVs also come with privacy and ethics concerns. AUVs could potentially replace a portion of human researchers, act as weapons platforms, engage in surveillance of persons and assist law enforcement with tracking seaborne assets (Grome, 2018).  

 The autonomous feature of unmanned vehicles is having the most impact for privacy advocates.  Autonomous vehicles are capable of remaining in a given area for long periods of time because they are not subject to endurance limitations resulting from human physiological needs.  Often their power sources can be recharged with solar power or by being replaced by another, fully-charged vehicle. This longer term potential for surveillance may reveal additional details about targets of observation previously undetected via more traditional observation methods.  As a result, these additional details about a person's life could be seen as privacy concerns and Fourth Amendment violations (Pavletic, 2018).

 References

 Berke, J. (2018).  A submarine has discovered the 310-year-old 'holy grail' of shipwrecks, 
     and it may carry $17 billion in treasure. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/
     shipwreck-may-have-up-to-17-billion-in-treasure-2018-5

 Grome, E. D. (2018). Spectres of the sea: The united states navy's autonomous ghost fleet, its                   capabilities and impacts, and the legal ethical issues that surround. Journal of Maritime Law
     and Commerce, 49(1), 31-69. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.
     ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/2036208261?accountid=27203

 Pavletic, J. (2018). THE FOURTH AMENDMENT IN THE AGE OF PERSISTENT AERIAL SURVEILLANCE. 
     Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 108(1), 171-196. Retrieved from                                                   http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/2014515243?accountid
     =27203

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. (2018). Remus 6000. Retrieved from https://www.
     whoi.edu/main/remus6000  

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