海角社区 Engineering, Chance Maritime Collaborate on Uncrewed Underwater Research
Technology beneficial in preserving natural resources, ensuring sustainable ecosystems, and supporting climate resilience.
November 13, 2024
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� In an old quarry near Lafayette, La., an uncrewed boat is dropping a remote-controlled robot down to the bottom of a lakebed before retrieving it and returning to shore. If a passerby stumbled upon this scene, he or she might think it was something out of a spy movie. Instead, it鈥檚 a cutting-edge project that shows how advanced robotic systems can help monitor and protect marine environments, as well as inspect and maintain offshore infrastructure.
Led by 海角社区 Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor and her students鈥�, , and 鈥攖he project is a collaboration between the 海角社区 College of Engineering and , headquartered in Lafayette. The two parties were brought together by , which is involved in another of Barbalata鈥檚 current research projects.
鈥淭he project demonstrates the feasibility of using uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) to deploy smaller, more specialized robots like remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for in-depth marine surveys,鈥� Barbalata said. 鈥淚t highlights the capability to access remote areas without requiring large infrastructure, opening up possibilities for exploring uncharted regions that may be otherwise inaccessible. [It also] underscores how advanced robotic systems can help monitor and protect marine environments efficiently and with minimal impact.
鈥淭hese technologies can aid in preserving natural resources, ensuring sustainable ecosystems, and supporting climate resilience. This means progress in ocean conservation efforts; improved disaster response for marine incidents; and potential benefits in fields such as fisheries, tourism, and coastal infrastructure protection.鈥�
The project leverages one of Chance Maritime鈥檚 USVs鈥攊.e., a robotic boat鈥攖o deploy one of Barbalata鈥檚 ROVs, which is mounted with a camera. The USV is a long-endurance, high-power robotic boat designed, built, and operated by Chance Maritime. The ROV is connected by tether to a computer onboard the USV. Communication is then routed through a Starlink connection from the USV鈥檚 onboard computer to the onshore remote operations center, allowing the ROV operator鈥擥egg鈥攖o manage deployment, operation, and retrieval from the shore in coordination with the USV pilot from Chance Maritime.
Once the ROV is piloted back to shore, the images it has collected are transferred to computers in Barbalata鈥檚 lab. Those images are color corrected by Green to restore true submerged colors and processed into a 3D model of the underwater site, which is useful for applications such as environmental monitoring, habitat assessment, and infrastructure inspection.
The collaboration has been a mutually beneficial one, Barbalata said, allowing her students to get hands-on experience in field deployments of marine robotics, as well as a better understanding of industry needs and challenges. Stuart Chance, CEO of Chance Maritime, agrees.
鈥淎s an alumnus of 海角社区, it鈥檚 a pleasure to work with the students from Dr. Barbalata鈥檚 lab on this technology,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e continue to innovate on integrating new payload technologies into our USVs, and this work with 海角社区 helps to move the ball forward on multi-domain uncrewed operations.
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