Autonomous legged underwater vehicles for near land warfare

Abstract

We are developing autonomous legged underwater vehicles (ALUVs) for mine hunting in the surf zone. The ALUVs are inexpensive autonomous crab-like robots. They will be deployed in large numbers and will operate without central control and largely independently of one another. Collectively, they will systematically search a craft landing zone, locate mines and obstacles, and destroy them. During Phase I, our Ursula ALUV demonstrated the feasibility of a legged robot walking under water and detecting mines. We are now (in Phase II) developing the Ariel ALUV which is optimized for fast, efficient underwater walking and better mine detection.