Liquid Robotics is unveiling at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space exposition this week the newest version of its unmanned water robot designed to power itself on the motion of waves while collecting and transporting oceanographic data.
Liquid Robotics, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., was displaying the Wave Glider SV3, which it says can operate autonomously in the ocean for years as a computing platform to explore the ocean for a variety of military and non-military missions.
The Wave Glider SV3 combines the motion of the waves with solar energy for propulsion while preserving power to support sensors and computers.
“What we have done is come up with this hybrid system that harvests all of the energy needed for propulsion from this vertical motion of the waves,” said Bill Vass, the CEO of Liquid Robotics.
The SV3 is a follow on to an earlier version, now called the SV2, which is already deployed with the U.S. Navy, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the oil and gas industries, fisheries as well as with foreign governments. Bass would not say how many Wave Gliders are in service with the Navy, but said the company has sold more than 200 of the systems worldwide since 2007.
The Wave Glider resembles a surfboard and can carry a towed sonar array and has a smaller platform that can dangle below the surface carrying sensors. The SV2 is about seven feet long and weighs about 200 pounds.
The SV3 is larger, coming in about nine feet long and weighing 350 pounds, and is capable of carrying larger payloads and operating for longer periods of time.
Bass said the Wave Gliders offer a much cheaper alternative for intelligence, reconnaissance of surveillance (ISR) missions than traditional platforms like ships and aircraft and can have a much longer presence.
“A lot of our vision is to allow the ISR mission to be able to be done autonomously for very long periods of time,” he said.
The SV3 can self-deploy from shore and swim in predetermined locations, and its mission can be changed while at sea. The onboard computers can discriminate between important data and prioritize sending it back to operators, Bass said.
It can also receive software upgrades while deployed, he said.