DEPTHX
Encyclopedia
The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) is an autonomous underwater vehicle
, designed to explore deep underwater caves. It is purported to be the most advanced robotic vehicle of its kind on Earth. Its primary function is observation, with an array of sonar sensors (for 3D mapping) all around its flattened spheroid hull. It is about {convert|7|ft|m}} in diameter, and designed to make its own decisions, rather than solely following instructions directly given from human observers.
DEPTHX was built in 2006 and used to conduct field experiments in Mexico from January to May 2007. It demonstrated several technologies for navigation, decision making and biological detection that might be used someday to explore Jupiter's moon Europa.
DEPTHX was the first robot to demonstrate three-dimensional SLAM
technology, enabling it to map unexplored spaces by creating a 3D map on the fly as it travels and to know where it is within that map at all times. It successfully collected microbiological samples, which led to the discovery by scientists at the Colorado School of Mines
of several new classes of microbes. Finally, DEPTHX successfully mapped the lower portion and bottom of the world's deepest water-filled sinkhole
, Cenote Zacatón
. Because of its great depth (over 1000 feet (304.8 m)), human divers had failed to reach (or even detect with sonar instruments) the bottom.
. For many years, Gary has studied Sistema Zacatón--a system of water-filled sinkholes in northeastern Mexico including the deepest, Cenote Zacatón. He's tried to understand how the sinkholes formed and how they evolve over time.
At a barbecue in Austin, Texas in about 2002, Gary asked Bill Stone
, a world famous cave diver and engineer, if it would be possible to build a robot to explore the Mexican cave system. The data a robot could collect about the internal structures of the sinkholes and environmental parameters in the water, Gary reasoned, would help hydrogeologists understand how the sinkholes form and evolve over time.
For Stone, the project sounded like a great way to develop robotic technologies that might one day be useful in the search for life in space. NASA thought so too and funded the three-year, $5 million DEPTHX mission. For NASA, the long-term target is Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa, which appears to harbor a vast salt water ocean with the potential to support life. As a stepping stone toward such a mission, NASA is funding the ENDURANCE
expeditions to Antarctica’s Lake Bonney
in late 2008 and late 2009 using the technology from the DEPTHX robot.
DEPTHX was built during 2006 at Stone Aerospace in Austin, Texas. Preliminary dives took place at the Applied Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, and under outdoor conditions at the Quarries, a swimming hole owned by Austin’s Hyde Park Baptist Church.
One of the distinctive qualities of the 3300 pounds (1,496.9 kg), computerized, underwater vehicle is that it makes its own decisions. With more than 100 sensors, 36 onboard computers, and 16 thrusters and actuators, DEPTHX decides where to swim, which samples to collect, and how to get home, based on maps that the probe draws during each dive.
By January 2007, team members from The University of Texas at Austin, Carnegie Mellon University
, Southwest Research Institute
, Colorado School of Mines, and Stone Aerospace were ready to head to Mexico to continue testing DEPTHX, the world’s only semi-autonomous cave diving robot.
Fieldwork Timeline:
Field experiments for the DEPTHX robot ended in May 2007. Some components of DEPTHX have been reused on the follow-on ENDURANCE project. ENDURANCE successfully completed its mission in frozen-over Lake Bonney in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica in the austral summer of 2008 but returned again in 2009.
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle is a robot which travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles...
, designed to explore deep underwater caves. It is purported to be the most advanced robotic vehicle of its kind on Earth. Its primary function is observation, with an array of sonar sensors (for 3D mapping) all around its flattened spheroid hull. It is about {convert|7|ft|m}} in diameter, and designed to make its own decisions, rather than solely following instructions directly given from human observers.
DEPTHX was built in 2006 and used to conduct field experiments in Mexico from January to May 2007. It demonstrated several technologies for navigation, decision making and biological detection that might be used someday to explore Jupiter's moon Europa.
DEPTHX was the first robot to demonstrate three-dimensional SLAM
Simultaneous localization and mapping
Simultaneous localization and mapping is a technique used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build up a map within an unknown environment , or to update a map within a known environment , while at the same time keeping track of their current location.- Operational definition :Maps are used...
technology, enabling it to map unexplored spaces by creating a 3D map on the fly as it travels and to know where it is within that map at all times. It successfully collected microbiological samples, which led to the discovery by scientists at the Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines is a small public teaching and research university devoted to engineering and applied science, with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources. Located in Golden, Colorado, CSM was ranked 29th, in America among national...
of several new classes of microbes. Finally, DEPTHX successfully mapped the lower portion and bottom of the world's deepest water-filled sinkhole
Sinkhole
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...
, Cenote Zacatón
Zacatón
Zacatón is thermal water filled sinkhole belonging to Zacatón system - group of unusual karst features located in Aldama Municipality in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is the deepest known water-filled sinkhole in the world with a total depth of...
. Because of its great depth (over 1000 feet (304.8 m)), human divers had failed to reach (or even detect with sonar instruments) the bottom.
History
One of the driving forces behind the intensely collaborative DEPTHX mission—in many ways its instigator—was Marcus Gary, a doctoral candidate in hydrogeology at the Jackson School of GeosciencesJackson School of Geosciences
The Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin unites the Department of Geological Sciences with two research units, the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology....
. For many years, Gary has studied Sistema Zacatón--a system of water-filled sinkholes in northeastern Mexico including the deepest, Cenote Zacatón. He's tried to understand how the sinkholes formed and how they evolve over time.
At a barbecue in Austin, Texas in about 2002, Gary asked Bill Stone
William Stone (caver)
William Stone , known as Bill Stone, is an American caver and explorer, known for exploring deep caves, sometimes with remotely operated vehicles...
, a world famous cave diver and engineer, if it would be possible to build a robot to explore the Mexican cave system. The data a robot could collect about the internal structures of the sinkholes and environmental parameters in the water, Gary reasoned, would help hydrogeologists understand how the sinkholes form and evolve over time.
For Stone, the project sounded like a great way to develop robotic technologies that might one day be useful in the search for life in space. NASA thought so too and funded the three-year, $5 million DEPTHX mission. For NASA, the long-term target is Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa, which appears to harbor a vast salt water ocean with the potential to support life. As a stepping stone toward such a mission, NASA is funding the ENDURANCE
Endurance
Endurance is the ability for a human or animal to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. In humans, it is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise...
expeditions to Antarctica’s Lake Bonney
Lake Bonney (Antarctica)
Lake Bonney is a saline lake with permanent ice cover at the western end of Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Victoria Land, Antarctica.It is long and up to wide...
in late 2008 and late 2009 using the technology from the DEPTHX robot.
DEPTHX was built during 2006 at Stone Aerospace in Austin, Texas. Preliminary dives took place at the Applied Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, and under outdoor conditions at the Quarries, a swimming hole owned by Austin’s Hyde Park Baptist Church.
One of the distinctive qualities of the 3300 pounds (1,496.9 kg), computerized, underwater vehicle is that it makes its own decisions. With more than 100 sensors, 36 onboard computers, and 16 thrusters and actuators, DEPTHX decides where to swim, which samples to collect, and how to get home, based on maps that the probe draws during each dive.
By January 2007, team members from The University of Texas at Austin, Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, Southwest Research Institute
Southwest Research Institute
Southwest Research Institute , headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is one of the oldest and largest independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organizations in the United States...
, Colorado School of Mines, and Stone Aerospace were ready to head to Mexico to continue testing DEPTHX, the world’s only semi-autonomous cave diving robot.
Fieldwork Timeline:
- January 25-27, 2007 - The DEPTHX Team begins surveying the world's deepest water-filled sinkhole, Zacatón in Mexico.
- February 4-10, 2007 - Field operations at la Pilita, one of the sinkholes in Sistema Zacatón. DEPTHX runs long autonomous missions to map the area and collect scientific data.
- March 2007 - Field work continues in La Pilita.
- May 2007 - DEPTHX is lowered into Zacatón for the first time and maps the bottom for the first time. Three-dimensional SLAM technology is demonstrated, microbiological samples are collected, and autonomous operation demonstrated.
Field experiments for the DEPTHX robot ended in May 2007. Some components of DEPTHX have been reused on the follow-on ENDURANCE project. ENDURANCE successfully completed its mission in frozen-over Lake Bonney in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica in the austral summer of 2008 but returned again in 2009.
External links
- ENDURANCE
- Dispatches from Zacatón Live field updates by Marc Airhart, Jackson School of GeosciencesJackson School of GeosciencesThe Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin unites the Department of Geological Sciences with two research units, the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology....
, March & May 2007 - NASA-funded Robotic Sub Makes Final Dive To Reach Bottom of Earth's Deepest Sinkhole Jackson School of GeosciencesJackson School of GeosciencesThe Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin unites the Department of Geological Sciences with two research units, the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology....
press release, May 14, 2007 - Stone Aerospace DEPTHX designer and systems integrator
- DEPTHX at Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University Responsible for software that controls navigation, mapping and autonomous decision making
- Deep Mission: Aquatic Robotic Diver Could Aid Europa Exploration
- Mexican Sinkhole May Lead NASA to Jupiter Washington Post, May 14, 2007
- Robotic submarine reaches new depths New Scientist, May 18, 2007
- Swimming to Europa IEEE Spectrum, September 1, 2007