Robotic technique gets more and more into our lives and seek to replace the technique of “normal”. And if robotic cars and planes is no surprise then that deep-sea submarine looks very interesting. All the more so for its creation is the Boeing company, and the submarine belongs to the class of very large deep-water submersibles.
Submarine Boeing Echo Voyager has a hull length of 15 metres. And, as has been said, belongs to the class of very large deep-water equipment (eXtra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle, XLUUV). During a series of tests, the submarine will make a series of shallow dives off the coast of southern California. During these experiments will be tested the system of communication, Autonomous operation, energy subsystem, and the engine of the submarine.
An interesting fact, Echo what Voyager was developed in the framework of XLUUV by order of the U.S. Navy. It is the world’s first submarine robot of this class and can be in a separate voyage for several months. Echo Voyager will be used in order to study the underwater world in automatic mode, but in the future it can be applied for military purposes.
As for autonomy, it is provided by the intelligent computer control system and hybrid power system. The latter can produce self-recharging batteries. As one of the program Directors XLUUV David flowers,
“Unlike aircraft, satellites or ground-based means with which to communicate even in an emergency, the underwater means should be fully Autonomous. The submarine must be able to assess the situation, make the decision and find the optimal way out of the emergency.”
Robot submarine the Boeing Echo Voyager first came out into the open sea
Vladimir Kuznetsov