The use of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles of various types, as well as other robotic systems in solving a wide range of tasks in the interests of the naval forces and coast guards of the leading countries of the world has become widespread in recent years and tends to further rapid development.
One of the reasons for the attention that naval specialists pay to the creation of underwater robots is the high efficiency of their combat use in comparison with the traditional means at the disposal of the command of the naval forces of the countries of the world until now. For example, during the invasion of Iraq, the command of the US Navy group in the Persian Gulf using autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles managed to clear mines and other dangerous objects from mines and other dangerous objects from the water area of the bay with an area of a quarter of a square mile (about 0.65 sq. Km), despite the fact that, as one of the representatives of the US Navy noted to the correspondent of the Associated Press, a typical detachment of miner divers would have taken 21 days to do this.
At the same time, the list of tasks solved by unmanned underwater vehicles is constantly expanding, and in addition to the traditional and most common ones - the search for mines and explosive objects, the provision of various underwater operations, as well as reconnaissance and observation - already includes the solution of shock tasks and work on more complex and previously inaccessible to "Robots in shoulder straps" in the littoral zone, where they must destroy mines and other elements of enemy anti-amphibious defense. The specific conditions of their combat use are shallow water, strong tidal currents, waves, difficult bottom topography, etc. - result in the creation of mechanisms that are distinguished by high technical complexity and originality of the solutions used. However, this originality often goes sideways for them: the customer is not yet ready for the massive introduction of such man-made monsters into the troops.
METAL-COMPOSITE "CANCER"
One of the first military robots created to work in the "beach" area in preparation for the amphibious operation, can be considered a small crustacean autonomous underwater robot known as the Ambulatory Benthic Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, which can be translated from English as "walking benthic (bottom) autonomous underwater vehicle ".
This apparatus weighing only 3.2 kg was developed on an initiative basis by specialists from the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University, located in Boston, Massachusetts (USA), under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Ayers. The customer of the work was the US Navy Research Directorate (ONR) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Defense Ministry (DARPA).
The device is a bottom autonomous robot of the so-called biomimetic class (robots similar to some samples of the animal world. - V. Sch.), which looks like a cancer and is designed to carry out reconnaissance and mine action in the littoral zone and on the first coastline, as well as at the bottom of rivers, canals and other shallow natural and artificial reservoirs.
The robot has a body made of a durable composite material, 200 mm long and 126 mm wide, eight mechanical legs with three degrees of freedom each, as well as a pair of front legs, similar to crab or crab claws, and one rear, resembling a crab's tail, surfaces for hydrodynamic stabilization of the robot under water approximately 200 mm long each (that is, each surface is comparable in length with the robot body). Mechanical legs are set in motion by artificial muscles made of nickel-titanium alloy with shape memory effect (NiTi shape memory alloy), and the developers decided to use pulse-width modulation in the drives.
The robot's actions are controlled using a neural network controller that implements a behavioral model borrowed by the developers from the life of lobsters and adapted to the conditions of combat use of these robots. Moreover, the specialists of Northeastern University chose the American lobster as a source for the development of the behavioral model of the robot in question.
“The ways and behaviors that lobsters have used to find food for millennia can equally well be used by a robot to find mines,” said project leader Dr. Joseph Ayers of Northeastern University's Marine Science Center.
The on-board control system of the cancer robot is based on a Persistor-type computing system based on a Motorola MC68CK338 microprocessor, and the payload of the device included a hydroacoustic communication system, a compass, and a MEMS-based inclinometer / accelerometer (MEMS - microelectromechanical system).
A typical scenario for the combat use of this robot looked like this. A group of robotic crayfish is delivered to the area of use using a special transport torpedo-shaped carrier (it was supposed to create something like an underwater version of a small cargo container used in the Air Force). After scattering, the robots, according to a predetermined program, had to conduct reconnaissance or additional reconnaissance of the designated area, identify elements of the enemy's anti-amphibious defense system, especially with regard to mines and other explosive objects, etc. In the case of large-scale production, the purchase price of one robotic cancer could be approximately $ 300.
However, it seems that the matter did not go beyond the construction of several prototypes and their short tests. The main potential customer, the Navy, which initially allocated about $ 3 million for these studies, did not express further interest in the project: the last time the development of Northeastern University was demonstrated to the specialists of the US Navy command, apparently, in 2003. Probably, there were no customers among the participants of those exhibitions where this invention was demonstrated.
CRAB "ARIEL II"
An attempt to create a robot based on the structural features of the "seafood", and specifically the crab, was also undertaken by the specialists of the American company "AyRobot". The company is today one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of robots of various types for military and civil purposes, and the volume of their deliveries has long been estimated in the millions. Founded in 1990, the company has been regularly involved since 1998 in the interests of DARPA or other divisions of the military and security agencies of the United States, as well as other countries of the world.
The robot developed by the company's specialists was named Ariel II and is classified as an Autonomous Legged Underwater Vehicle (ALUV). It is designed to search for and remove mines and various obstacles in the enemy's anti-amphibious defense system located in the coastal shallow water zone and on the "beach". A feature of the robot, according to the developers, is its ability to remain functional even in an inverted state.
"Ariel II" weighs about 11 kg and can take a payload of up to 6 kg. The length of the body of the apparatus is 550 mm, the maximum length for manipulators with a compass and inclinometer is 1150 mm, the width is 9 cm in the low position and 15 cm - on the raised "legs". The robot is capable of working at depths of up to 8 m. Power source - 22 nickel-cadmium batteries.
Structurally, "Ariel II" is a crab-like apparatus with a main body and six legs attached to it, which have two degrees of freedom. All the target electronic equipment placed on board the "crab in epaulettes" should, according to the developers' plan, be located in a sealed module. The target load management system is distributed. Work on this mine action robot was carried out under contracts issued by the DARPA agency and the US Navy Research Office.
The scenario for the combat use of these robots is in many ways similar to that described above, with only one difference: the robot had a mine destruction mode. Having found a mine, the robot stopped and took a position in the immediate vicinity of the mine, waiting for the command. Upon receipt of the corresponding signal from the command post, the robot detonated a mine. Thus, the "flock" of these robots could simultaneously almost completely or even completely destroy the antiamphibious minefield in the area of the planned amphibious assault landing. The developer also proposed an option that did not provide for the role of a kamikaze: the robot simply placed an explosive charge on the mine and retreated to a safe distance before the explosion.
One of the prototypes of the robot - the mine seeker "Ariel". Photo from www.irobot.com
"Ariel II" demonstrated its ability to search for mines during at least three tests. The first was conducted in a shallow coastal area in the Riviera Beach area, near the city of Riviera, Massachusetts; the second is in the Panama City, Florida area, funded by the Boeing Corporation, and the third is in the Monterey Bay area for the National Geographic Group. Apparently, this project did not receive further development (including due to the far from unambiguous results of these tests), and the military customer, who financed the work at the first stage, allegedly considered another development of the same company more promising, known as “Transfibian”and discussed below. Although here, too, not everything is so simple.
"TRANSFIBIA" FROM MASSACHUSETS
Another unmanned underwater vehicle for work in the littoral zone, which is listed by the company "AyRobot", was not originally developed by its specialists, but inherited from the company "Nekton Corporation", which it acquired in September 2008 for USD 10 million
This device was named "Transphibian" (Transphibian) and was created in the interests of the military to search for and destroy mines of various types by self-detonation using an onboard explosive charge weighing 6, 35 kg and a signal supplied by a remote operator.
"Transfibian" is a small-sized (portable) autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle about 90 cm long. Its main difference from other mine action submersibles in the littoral zone is the use of a combined method of movement: in the water column, the device moves with the help of two pairs of "fins", like a fish or a pinniped mammal, and along the bottom, with the help of the same "fins", it is already crawling. At the same time, in the materials devoted to this development, it is argued that the "fins" have six degrees of freedom. As conceived by the developers, this ensures the possibility of equally effective use of the apparatus under consideration both in shallow water and at great depths, and also significantly increases its mobility and the ability to overcome obstacles of various nature.
As a payload, it was planned to use various search equipment up to a large-sized optoelectronic camera, which was to be suspended on special mounts under the central part of the vehicle body.
The status of the development is currently not entirely clear, since the section dedicated to the unmanned underwater vehicle "Transfibian" is absent even on the website of the developer company. Although a number of sources claim that it was in favor of this device that the American military department gave preference, abandoning the previously considered development of the same company - the unmanned underwater vehicle "Ariel II". However, it is likely that the project was closed or frozen, since American naval specialists were, to put it mildly, dissatisfied with a number of important parameters of the unmanned underwater vehicle in question.
TRACK AMPHIBIA
The latest sample of uninhabited vehicles designed to search for and destroy mines, as well as conduct reconnaissance of enemy anti-amphibious defense in the so-called surf zone, which we will consider here, was created by specialists from the famous American company Foster-Miller, which specialized in the development of military and police robots. The work on this device, called the Tactically Adaptable Robot, was carried out within the framework of the Very Shallow Water / Surf Zone MCM Program, funded by the Research management of the US Navy.
This sample was an unmanned, tracked amphibious vehicle, developed using the developments obtained by Foster-Miller when creating a small-sized ground robot Lemming, commissioned by DARPA. Thus, this device is capable of operating both on the seabed in shallow water near the coast (in a river, lake, etc.) and on the coast. At the same time, the developer provided for the possibility of equipping the device with various options for power elements (rechargeable batteries), sensors and other payload, which was located in a compartment with a useful volume of about 4500 cubic meters. inches (about 0.07 cubic meters).
The constructed prototype of the device has the following tactical and technical characteristics: length - 711 mm, width - 610 mm, height - 279 mm, weight (in air) - 40, 91 kg, maximum speed - 5.4 km / h, maximum cruising range - 10 miles. As a payload, it was planned to develop tactile sensors (touch sensors), a magnetic gradiometer, a magneto-inductive sensor for non-contact object detection, etc.
The onboard equipment of the amphibious robot is supposed to include navigation aids (multi-sensor system for determining the spatial position of the vehicle using the Kalman filter; navigation system for work in shallow water SINS (Swimmer Inshore Navigation System); receiver of the differential subsystem of the global navigation satellite system (DGPS); three-axis compass; odometers; yaw rate gyro sensor, etc.) and communications (ISM radio receiver and underwater acoustic modem), and the onboard control system is based on a PC / 104 standard computer.
The results of the survey of the designated area of the water area (seabed) by each of the amphibious robots allocated for this - and the operation is planned using a group of similar devices - are transmitted to the operator's console, where a digital map of this area is formed on their basis.
Experts from Foster-Miller and the coastal systems division of the US Navy's Surface Warfare Center jointly conducted a test cycle of a prototype of the system in question, during which they had to demonstrate the ability of the amphibious robot to solve the following tasks:
- search for various objects in the designated area of the water area;
- search and identification of objects on the seabed;
- a complete and thorough survey of the littoral zone (surf zone) at the site of the forthcoming amphibious landing operation;
- maintaining two-way communication with the operator on the carrier ship or coastal command post;
- solving the required tasks offline.
In July 2003, this amphibious robot was shown to everyone in Boston as part of an exhibition organized by the US Navy Research Directorate during the Boston Harborfest, and earlier, in 2002, the US military used these devices in a version optimized for use on land, during an operation to survey caves in the mountains of Afghanistan.
The status of the system is indicated as "under development", contracts for any serial production of amphibious robots have not yet been concluded (at least information about this has not been made public), therefore it is likely that the customer, represented by the US Navy command, has not yet shown an active interest to continue work on the project. In addition, there is no mention of this robotic complex on the US Navy website in the section dedicated to the program "Mine action forces and assets for very shallow water areas and surf zones".
POTENTIAL HAZARD
In general, it can be stated that the task of searching, detecting, classifying and destroying mines in the littoral zone and on the first coastline ("beach"), as well as detecting various elements of enemy anti-amphibious defense remains one of the most important components of the complex process for the navies of the leading countries of the world support of amphibious assault operations. Especially those that take place on unfamiliar stretches of the coast.
In this regard, we can expect further development of work on the creation of robotic tools designed to solve the above problems. Although, as can be seen from the above information, the task of creating uninhabited and especially autonomous vehicles capable of operating in extremely difficult conditions of the littoral zone (surf zone, on the first coastline), characterized by a complex bottom topography, shallow depths and strong currents, is by no means simple and does not always lead to the desired and satisfying results for the customer.
On the other hand, back in 2008, on the pages of the online resource NewScientist.com, material was published based on the forecast made by British and American experts regarding the most serious scientific and technical threats that humanity may face in the foreseeable future. … And what is remarkable, according to the authors of the forecast, one of the threats with a high degree of probability may be the excessively rapid development of biomimetic robots - systems created on the basis of borrowing certain samples of the planet's nature. Such as, for example, autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles, created similar to certain samples of marine fauna both in a constructive sense and in relation to the behavioral models implemented in their control systems.
According to British scientists, the rapidly "breeding" of this kind of biomimetic robots can become a new occupant species on our planet and enter into a confrontation for the possession of living space with their former creators. Fantastic? Yes, probably. But a couple of centuries ago, the Nautilus submarine, space rockets, and combat lasers seemed fantastic. And biomimetic robot specialist Robert Full, who works at the University of California at Berkeley, stresses: "In my opinion, at this stage, we know too little about the possible threats to properly plan our developments."
