Seabed exploration robot

Ocean scientists from Delaware University (USA) have just launched the DOERRI robot - a new type of seabed robot that can help discover the geological secrets of the Black Sea and the history of this sea. .

At 2.1 m long and weighing 108 kg, DOERRI robot will map the seabed of the Black Sea off Sevastopol, Ukraine, every 14 hours continuously at a depth of 200 m.

DOERRI is equipped with a complex sensor system including seawater salinity measurement system, temperature and oxygen concentration; SONAR (sound navigation ranging) to measure the seabed map. There is also a safety system on board to ensure the robot works continuously. At the end of each day the robot will be put on board for maintenance and data processing.

DOERRI will work as real scientists. It will go into areas never before known and provide data that people can hardly perform, helping scientists discover shipwrecks from ancient times under the Black Sea bottom. DOERRI will also provide specific data on dynamics, water-soluble oxygen concentrations, wave propagation . to draw the shape and texture of the seabed.

Nearly 90% of the Black Sea is an oxygen-free ' dead sea ' with only a few bacteria alive. Preserving what lies beneath this sea is a very difficult task for geologists or archaeologists. They are not allowed to destroy or touch relics on the seabed. DOERRI will be a great assistant for them: it can retrieve information and data about objects from a distance, thus not touching or destroying the relics.

MINH ANH