A2I2 underwater survey robot thrives in the deep end

Autonomous Aquatic Inspection and Intervention (A2I2) is the work of a wide-ranging UK collaboration led by Rovco that includes Forth Engineering, D-RisQ, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Thales UK and Manchester University. The demonstration, which took place at Forth’s 1.2 million litre tank facility in Maryport, saw the robot successfully move autonomously through the deep-water pond, avoid collisions, locate items on the pond floor and relay images in real-time back to screens nearby on dry land.

Sellafield plutonium a multi-layered problem

The capabilities of A2I2 bring together 3D computer vision, simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM), autonomous path planning and scene understanding using Machine Learning (ML). While the technology has been designed primarily for the storage ponds at nuclear sites such as Sellafield, the ‘Intelligent Data Collection System’ can be integrated onto any subsea vehicle to enhance its capability, according to Rovco.