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The World's Biggest Undersea Robot

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the getting-lots-of-work-lately dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "According to redOrbit.com, companies installing subsea cables for telecommunications companies and pipelines for the oil industry now have a new tool, the UT-1 Ultra Trencher which is the world's biggest subsea robot. This beauty weighs 60 tons (out of the water) and has a length of 7.8 meters, a width of 7.8 meters and a height of 5.6 meters. In fact, it has the dimensions of a small house but is more expensive, carrying a price tag of about £10 million. It can move at a speed of 2 to 3 knots under the sea. And it can trench pipelines with a 1-meter diameter in deep waters of up to 1,500 meters."

16 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Sadly no, by imamac · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...it does NOT run Linux.

    1. Re:Sadly no, by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Informative

      But you can stil welcome our new giant robotic under(water)lord!

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Sadly no, by networkBoy · · Score: 3, Funny

      but does it blend? Quite effectively I would imagine, much to the dismay of sea cucumbers, and other seafloor dwelling creatures.
      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
  2. Not A Robot by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Robots have at least some degree of autonomy. This is a bad-ass RC vehicle.

    Our future overlords are increasingly unimpressed with us taking their name in vain.

    --
    "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
  3. Pics by bar-agent · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's a picture on ZDNET's page.

    --
    i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
  4. A picture by The+Ancients · · Score: 3, Informative

    Since the linked article is a bit light on them:

    http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=870

    Spec sheet here (PDF 917KB)

    --
    The Mothership
  5. So if undersea cables criss-cross each other... by toejam13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are a huge number of undersea cables and pipes that currently reside on the surface of the ocean floor. How will they be affected by this device?

    Furthermore, even if the "water knife" does not damage existing infrastructure, it will still be there when you go to run your new cable. Unless you manage to thread your cable under it somehow, there will be points where it will be exposed above the soil where it junctions with existing cable. Perhaps that's an acceptable issue today, but in a century when we have millions of miles of fiber-optics undersea, it may not.

    1. Re:So if undersea cables criss-cross each other... by mrbluze · · Score: 4, Funny

      There are a huge number of undersea cables and pipes that currently reside on the surface of the ocean floor. How will they be affected by this device? Remember to Dial Before You Dig, and after you dig, dial again to make sure you severed the cable.
      --
      Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  6. Incorrect... by msauve · · Score: 4, Informative
    one definition of "robot" is

    A machine or device that operates...by remote control .
    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:Incorrect... by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A weak, unhelpful definition in any context- I operate my computer remotely via a keyboard. If that was the only criterion, the concept of 'robot' as opposed to any 'machine', would be diluted to the point of uselessness.

      But you linked, and so are informative.

      --
      "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
    2. Re:Incorrect... by dwater · · Score: 4, Funny

      But you linked, and so are informative. ..and you disagreed, so you are insightful.
      --
      Max.
  7. dimensions of a small house... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    it has the dimensions of a small house but is more expensive, carrying a price tag of about £10 million
    Hmmm... judging by the UK housing market, it'll probably soon be cheaper to live in an undersea cable robot worth £10 million... sub-prime mortgages not withstanding...
  8. The Abyss? by Pedrito · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it just me or does that look like it came right out of the movie The Abyss? It looks like a yellow, miniature version of their habitat. I'm sure the MPAA is working on their patent lawsuit.

  9. Re:Out of water? by Aaron+Isotton · · Score: 3, Informative

    If we want to nitpick...a ton is *not* a unit of weight. It's a unit of mass. Mass != weight. The corresponding unit of weight is the "ton force".

  10. Interesting, but how useful? by TFer_Atvar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Current undersea trenching is done using plows pulled by ships. I highly doubt that even this large robot is going to be able to match the power of a 60,000 ton ship pulling a plow. And considering the need to dig fairly deep below the seabed in order to protect from wayward anchors and fishing nets, I have to question the usefulness of this robot. It might be useful for smaller, brown-water cables where you need the protection but can't afford to hire a ship to plow the trench, but the big ocean-spanning cables probably won't use this robot.

    1. Re:Interesting, but how useful? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The trencher doesn't use a plow, no. It uses a pair of jet-cutters. A jet-cutter is a large pump connected to a very small nozzle that blasts the sea floor away with high pressure water. One jet-cutter on either side of the pipe or cable and the blast of water excavates the earth in between. Subsea cables are not usually buried more than a meter deep. The reason to bury them is to keep marine life and anchors off of them. Occasionally a cable may be set deeper at a crossing point or when coming into land near a harbor but that is the exception. The advantage a ROV has is that it can make sharp turns, a plow cannot. Also ROVs can bury an installed pipe or cable where a plow would certainly damage it. You are right though 1500m is far too shallow for most oceanic cable and some rigs. I'm betting that this is meant for oil rig pipe burial as oil rigs are ussually set in relativly shallow water ( 2000m ).