Monday Morning Naval Tech

At first it reminded me of Star Wars, because it the idea reminds a Sci-Fi fan of the role an Astrometric Droid like R2D2 might play on a star ship - damage control. Then you look at the picture and you realize this isn't Star Wars, rather this is Battlestar Galactica, and the Navy is building first generation Cylons for their next generation warships.

Is this transformational, evolutionary, or simply part of the 21st century future that is coming whether we are ready or not? Who cares... because it's very damn interesting because it addresses a legitimate need with what is apparently a legitimate 1st generation technology. Operational testing (which I presume means on a warship) is expected to begin late next year.

Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR), is being designed to move autonomously throughout the ship, interact with people, and fight fires, handling many of the dangerous firefighting tasks that are normally performed by humans. The humanoid robot should be able to maneuver well in the narrow passages and ladderways that are unique to a ship and challenging for most older, simpler robots to navigate.

The robot is designed with enhanced multi-modal sensor technology for advanced navigation and a sensor suite that includes a camera, gas sensor, and stereo IR camera to enable it to see through smoke. Its upper body will be capable of manipulating fire suppressors and throwing propelled extinguishing agent technology (PEAT) grenades. It is battery powered that holds enough energy for 30 minutes of firefighting. Like a sure-footed sailor, the robot will also be capable of walking in all directions, balancing in sea conditions, and traversing obstacles.

Another key element of the SAFFiR development is to allow damage control personnel and the robot to work cohesively as a team. Algorithms are being developed to allow autonomous mobility and decision making by the robot as a team member. To enable natural interaction with a human team leader, the robot will have multimodal interfaces that will enable the robot to track the focus of attention of the human team leader, as well as to allow the robot to understand and respond to gestures, such as pointing and hand signals. Where appropriate, natural language may also be incorporated, as well as other modes of communication and supervision.

Researchers from Virginia Tech and University of Pennsylvania are also working with NRL on the project. They plan to test the firefighting robot in a realistic firefighting environment onboard the ex-USS Shadwell in late September 2013.

The obvious shortfall of these prototype systems is their low power supply, but as is also true with the technologies of the Littoral Combat Ship modules - get the 1st generation stuff out there so demand will drive the innovation towards the limitations of these systems. The software, logistics, training, and support of these systems are going to be harder - from the Navy POV - than working around the limitations of power, after all the Navy can and will simply throw money in the direction of contractors at the power problem, while we all know the Navy ultimately will not throw enough money at the more legitimate Navy-centric challenges (software, logistics, training, and support) that will only be resolved with time and experience in the hands of sailors and officers.

Also noteworthy is this piece of technology that is apparently soon to roll out as well, which in my mind sounds a great deal like the hypothetical science of Warp Fields in Star Trek lore - except applied in the oceans.

Someone tell the U.S. Navy that rough waters might become a thing of the past. Scientists think they’ve figured out how to fool the stormy seas.

The breakthrough, courtesy of researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, is the latest in a series of developments in invisibility research — many of them Pentagon-funded. Too bad this one won’t actually address what’s arguably the military’s biggest on-the-water worry: Hiding ships from the watchful eyes of potentially dangerous foes. Instead, these scientists think they’ve figured out how to trick the water itself.

The goal is to make ships immune to the up-and-down motion of waves, an objective that could help the military avoid the kinds of delays or rerouting that, for now, are inevitable during bad weather.

If that sounds different than previous breakthroughs in invisibility, it most definitely is. Before this, scientists focused on shrouding objects from the human eye. They’ve tried harnessing the mirage effect to play tricks on vision, and tried using meta-materials that bend light, in the hope of rendering something impossible to see. But despite some pretty amazing progress (cloaking 3D objects or entire events, for example) invisibility is still largely relegated to the low-frequency realm — not the optical wavelengths visible to us.

This time, instead of cloaking an object from light, scientists are cloaking it from water.

The article goes into further depth with links that describe how the technology will generally work, but basically "as long as “the wave vector of the ripple [cloak] equal[s] the difference in the wave vectors of the interfacial and surface waves,” a rough wave approaching a vessel will suddenly disappear — and pass far below the vessel."

Just thinking out loud, but if this technology does work - and if we make the huge assumption that it works without creating massive environmental problems - it does have me wondering if it could potentially just plug into hull mounted directional sonar systems. In other words, this technology could simply be a sonar upgrade in the future.

The first, most obvious practical use of this technology would be for the Coast Guard - if during a high seas rescue they can simply drop a dipping sonar from a helicopter to calm the waves around a ship rolling around in high seas, that sure will make any rescue easier.