School of Underwater Robots Plays as a Team

Data collection this August in Monterey Bay, California will cap a three year cooperative effort involving a team of research scientists and underwater robots.
The program called Adaptive Sampling and Prediction (ASAP), was led by Naomi Ehrich Leonard of Princeton University and Steven Ramp of the Naval Postgraduate School.
The team includes scientists from all over the world and an autonomous underwater team from Woods Hole Institute and Scripps Oceanography Institute.

The objectives of the project include studying the seasonal ocean currents of the area.
The underwater robots will be able to make decisions about where to take measurements. Usually with studies like this the robots must be pre-programmed to make sure they cover the entire area. In this case the robots will decide for themselves how best to cover the interesting changes and get the most data.

The self-directed school of robot submarines may one day be able to be set free for more wideranging tasks. they could follow oil spills, fish migrations or help with military operations.

ASAP Project page

Underwater robots work together without human input