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The MIT Sea Grant AUV lab
was started in 1989 by Dr. James Bellingham. The basic architecture
of the artificial intelligence was developed in the first
three years. The Odyssey IIb fleet of vehicles represents
the fourth generation of AUV developed by the laboratory.
The Odyssey II vehicles have been used in difficult environments,
including beneath the Arctic ice sheet (1994), over hydrothermal
the vents of the Juan de Fuca Ridge (1994 and 1995), in the
high–current regions of Haro Straits (1996), the Kaikoura
Canyon off of New Zealand (1997), and in the Labrador Sea
(1998). The hundreds of dives have been characterized by reliable,
robust performance, even under the most demanding conditions.
Two factors have led to this level of performance. First,
we recognized that simulations are doomed to succeed because
they cannot model the contingencies and chance of the real
world. Thus, everyone in the MIT
program has experience with the AUVs at sea, which helps keep
the vehicle designers focused on the key issues in achieving
consistent, reliable performance. Second, the foresight and
long-term support of its sponsors, the Office of Naval Research
and MIT Sea Grant, has been
critical to forging a unique design and operations team. It
is this hands-on approach that allows the hardware and software
engineers to be truly confident in their work.
The main purpose of the AUV Laboratory is to design, build
and test small, unmanned robotic submarines. Dr. Bellingham
and an excellent technical team have designed several generations
of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. The highest priorities
have been reliability and quality. A fleet of five vehicles
of the Odyssey II class was built and tested extensively,
completing over three hundred ocean surveys. These surveys
have spanned the globe, from beneath the Arctic ice cap to
the rough waters of the Strait of Magellan. During eight years
of operations, the vehicles always returned safely from each
of their independent missions. The AUV team has never lost
a vehicle, even though operations are often in hostile environments.
Click here to learn more about the
transition from MIT to Bluefin
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