The weird robot trivia shared today is’ Aquanaut, The Shape-Shifting Submarine
We are living in the age of robotics. The world today is dominated by machinery and technology. There are many who say we should fear the rise of the robots, that they are destined to steal our jobs or even use their weapons against us. But not all robots are threatening and evil. Some of them are just plain weird.
The Transformers were one of the most popular franchises of the 1980s, and one of the most terrible film series of the 2000s. Transformers, for anyone who is not aware, are autonomous robots that can transform themselves into motor vehicles. These shape-shifting wonders captured the imaginations of children over the decades, but they always seemed like a remarkable work of fiction, something that could never be created for real. Until recently, that is.
Now scientists at Houston Mechatronics Inc. have developed a real-life Transformer – a semi-humanoid robot that can convert itself into a submarine. They named it Aquanaut. The creators wanted to build a machine that combined the freedom of a long-distance underwater vehicle with the precision of a remotely-operated bot.
Built on a $23 million budget, Aquanaut is mainly designed for use on deep sea oil and gas pipelines. The robot begins its descent in streamlined “submarine mode”, diving steadily through the water until it finds its target. After that, it begins its transformation. The top of the hull lifts up, and a head and two long arms are unfurled for work on the pipeline. As well as its metamorphic abilities, Aquanaut is carrying a range of sophisticated equipment. Its head has been fitted with a 3D sensor, stereo cameras, and a sonar system.
