Hybrid robot crawler / flyer for use in underwater archaeology

Remotely operated crawlers are specialized vehicles that allow for underwater intervention by staying in direct contact with the seafloor. The crawler offers a very stable platform for manipulating objects or for taking measurements. Additionally, crawlers lend themselves to long-term work. Crawlers are already well established platforms for various environments. For example, planetary rovers have successfully proven themselves in missions to the moon and mars. At Florida Institute of Technology a hybrid remotely operated crawler has been developed for archaeological and scientific activities within coastal regions of the ocean. This hybrid vehicle combines a standard 40-cm high, 53-cm wide, 71-cm long remotely operated vehicle (ROV) flyer with a 1.0-m high, 1.52-m wide, 2.8-m long remotely operated vehicle crawler for multiple research activities such as underwater archaeology documentation and artifact removal. Named the RG-III, the hybrid vehicle is currently designed to operate in depths down to 100-m. The vehicle is controlled by a remote control cable from the beach or boat and is equipped with video, still cameras and robotic grippers. Capable of carrying most environmental data gathering instruments the crawler is also able to “fly” when necessary by filling flotation bladders and using its four mounted thrusters. This capability allows the vehicle to jump from one side of a shipwreck to another or to fly over sensitive regions such as reefs. The ROV-flyer piggy-backs on the ROV-crawler and can separate to become an “eye-in-the-sky” to observe from above the activities of the ROV-crawler.