Robots and Exploration

Activity: Which Robot When?

Humans love to EXPLORE!!

Humans have explored most of the land surface on the planet, even though some of it is really hard to reach.

Now, we are moving on to other things, like space and other planets, like MARS!!

For that, we need ROBOTS.

But, are there places on Earth we need robots to explore? YES!

More than 80% of the Earth's oceans have not been explored. We know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the sea floor. And, to find out more about that, we need...ROBOTS!!

Here is a short video about exploring the deep ocean in a submarine.

This submarine has a human in it, but it also has a lot of equipment on it that requires coding - like a ROBOT!

That was pretty cool, but sending people down that deep in submarines is dangerous!

Why can't people just dive down that deep? Well, think about what your ears feel like if you dive deep in a swimming pool or at the beach. Now imagine that if you dove down two miles!

Taking this ball down deep in a swimming pool greatly compresses all the air inside it making it extra squishy.

Going even deeper: just look at what the intense pressure of the ocean can do to a styrofoam cup.

Here are some really cool things that robots can help us find deep, deep in the ocean when we can't go there ourselves.

Rare Sperm Whale Encounter with ROVAt 598 meters (1,962 ft) below the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, ROV Hercules encountered a magnificent sperm whale. The whale circled Hercules several times and gave our cameras the chance to capture some incredible footage of this beautiful creature. Encounters between sperm whales and ROV's are very rare.

Shipwreck 15577 The ArtifactsWith expert care and precision, the team of the E/V Nautilus explores and documents artifacts at shipwreck site 15577. Video courtesy of Ocean Exploration Trust and the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment

Using ROBOTS, doesn't mean that people are not involved. As you watch the next video, think about all the different people involved using the robots to explore the ocean.

Also, look at all the different kinds of robotic equipment that is being used. Different ROBOTS are used in different ways to do different things.

STUDENT TASK

Your task is to investigate underwater robots that can be used to perform various jobs that support scientific exploration of the deep ocean. You will work together to explore the tools and capabilities of six different Remotely Operated Vehicles, or ROVs, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, or AUVs, and determine which of these robots is the best one to complete specific missions. To continue, click here.