Contraband smugglers beware: A new underwater robot can now sniff out your “goods” hidden “cleverly” aboard your ships.
Developed by researchers at MIT, the football-sized robot, equipped with ultrasound sensors, can ride along the underbelly of a cargo ship along its flat edge to scan the ship’s contents and discover fake hulls and propeller shafts, which are commonly used by smugglers to hide contraband. The robot’s propulsion system is also designed to minimize visible wake, and is ideal for stealth, underwater patrols…etc.
The propulsion system is made up of pumps at either end of the bot, which expel water through rubber tubes to move forwards and backwards. The robot can use these different pumps to push itself against the hull of the ship it wishes to inspect.
This bot is now on the military’s radar, who want to use it not only for detecting contraband, but also for finding stress fractures in the hulls of ships and other vessels.
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