BIOSwimmer Tuna Bot

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The BIOSwimmer Tuna Bot will one day patrol U.S. harbors for contraband...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been calling for a new generation of sea-bots to help patrol the busy traffic of America’s major seaports. Several previous unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) have come to pass without success, but Boston Engineering Corporation’s Advanced Systems new Tuna Bot underwater robot is already well into its development stage and hopes to be fielded in the not too distant near future.

The ichthyoid-inspired bot, borrows is design from millions of years of evolution. Tuna fish are notorious fast and agile, and by using the animal’s slim-lined form factor, the BIOSwimmer is able to access flooded structures such a ships bilges, and ballast tanks, even in high-viscosity fluids like crude oil.

The BIOSwimmer receives its instructions from a remote operator, its onboard computer system the takes care of navigation whilst sending data back to base via a laptop link. The UUV features swappable sensors, including a pencil-beam, for different missions. Director of ASG, Mike Rufo said:

“It’s designed to support a variety of tactical missions and with its interchangeable sensor payloads and reconfigurable Operator Controls, can be optimized on a per-mission basis”

The Tuna bot will eventually patrol the some 6.5 million 20-foot shipping containers, that move through the Port of Los Angeles each year, the 6.26 million that pass through the port of Long Beach, and the 5.29 million that arrive at the Port of New York, for contraband and illegal activities. And while it wasn’t mentioned in the original article, the bot could possibly be used to assess safety of underwater structures.

The BIOSwimmer has already cleared its Phase I development cycle, and it entered Phase II development last year. If all goes well, the BIOSwimmer could be keeping harbor safe within the next couple of years.

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Military Sand Flea Leaps Over Walls For Recon

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Precision Urban Hopper gets renamed the Sand Flea and prepares for testing in Afghanistan...

The Military’s new Sand Flea reconnaissance robot – a small UGV capable of leaping over objects 25ft tall – is being readied for trails on the battlefield this winter.

The small recon bot, developed by a collaborative team from Sandia National Laboratories and Boston Dynamics, navigates the ground on four wheels, and leaps using a leg powered by powerful pistons, to leap in a controlled manner through the air.

Roughly the size of shoebox, the bot is remotely operated and features a camera to stream a live video feedback to its controller. It packs enough juice to perform 30 jumps over obstacles 40-60 times its own height, and its navigational system is so precise that a soldier can even direct the ‘bot to leap up two stories and right into an open window.’

The bot, was initially commissioned by Darpa, the Pentagon’s cutting-edge research arm, in 2009, was designed to perform reconnaissance in areas secured by large 15-20ft walls; a common safeguard for compounds in Afghanistan.

Originally unveiled as the Precision Urban Hopper, the Sand Flea is not the only bot to fill such a niche. Earlier this year we saw the introduction of throwable recon bots, some, like the Recon Scout, with magnetic wheels that can adhere to hull of ships and other metallic surfaces.

That’s not to say the Sand Flea doesn’t bring anything new to the table; in some circumstances the simplicity and speed of throwing a bot with your own arms may be preferable, but humans aren’t always accurate, and the target may not always be within line of sight, it’s in these situations that the Sand Flea is right at home.

Massive Ordnance Penetrator Ready For Fielding

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The Air Force’s 30,000lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator is finally ready to go…

The military’s huge 30,000-pound bomb is finally ready for fielding. Based on the Massive Ordnance Air Burst (or ‘Mother Of All Bombs’), the 21,000-pound bomb that was shown off during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The OAB was only a prototype and never made into productions, but aside from serving a nice bit of propaganda during conflict, it also paved the way for the modified Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

The 30,000lb bomb is designed to penetrate reinforced underground bunkers and any other targets that are too deep for current weapons to destroy. Depending on the density of the concrete the MOP can penetrate through 60-200 ft.

Previous bombs designed for the same purpose had focused more on explosiveness than weight, the MOP however flips that thinking on its head by making warhead just 10 percent of the entire bomb, compared to the MOAB’s explosive that made up around 90 percent.

The smaller warhead allows more room for the immensely thick casing needed to survive the effects of impact. Heavy-metal ballast work has also been done to increase the density of penetrating bombs; some have speculated that depleted uranium could have been used to do this, although Tungsten would make an equally good ballast material.

So far, the 30 bombs order by the Air Force have cost $200 million to develop, and as always there are still those few who doubt the bombs ability to penetrate hardened underground bunkers. Going on the OABs past record its not hard to see why, however the Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Donley, told Jeff Schogol of Air Force Times, that this time round there’s simply no question: