
Washington: An underwater robot can now swim its way wirelessly, all thanks to a waterproof
controller designed and built by York University researchers.
AQUA, an amphibious, otter-like robot, is small and nimble, with flippers rather than propellers,
designed for intricate data collection from shipwrecks and reefs.
The robot, a joint project of York, McGill and Dalhousie universities, can now be controlled
wirelessly using a waterproof tablet built at York.
While underwater, divers can program the tablet to display tags onscreen, similar to barcodes read
by smartphones.
The robot's on-board camera then scans these two-dimensional tags to receive and carry out
commands.
Having a robot tethered to a vehicle above water creates a scenario where communication between the...
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