DARPA's Angler program wants better underwater robots

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency want to apply technology developed for terrestrial and space-exploring robots to undersea manipulation.

The Angler program proposes an underwater robotic system that autonomously navigates and surveys the sea floor and can physically manipulate manmade objects. Currently, undersea operations are conducted with tethered, remotely operated vehicles that are limited by their connection to manned ships and by limited communications available in environments where GPS and high-bandwidth wireless signals are impractical.

Several technological breakthroughs will be required for undersea robots, including:

• High-accuracy navigation in GPS-deprived underwater environments.
• Perception and manipulation strategies for grasping unknown or degraded manmade objects.
• Approaches that allow robots to detect their location and health of their own systems.

DARPA envisions several teams working on hardware and software for robotic sensing, autonomy, object manipulation and underwater transit.  Eventually, it sees undersea robots conducting long-duration, long-distance missions without GPS or human intervention.

A proposers day will be held Dec. 13 ahead of a planned broad agency announcement. Read the full request for information here.