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depth without pitching while operating Those looking for a tethered experience new payloads. The micro-UUV featured at low speeds—similar to the way a tra- can select a highly optimized system or open hardware and software interfaces ditional ROV works. a modular approach with more end-user giving users a reliable and robust plat-

In addition to an elegant hydrodynamic con? gurability. In either case, for the form to advance technology develop- design Trident was designed to be highly cost of a modern laptop or PC one can ment. The vehicle design was optimized portable and quite durable. The ROV is be fully equipped to engage meaning- for high ef? ciency with the best hydro- small enough to ? t in a backpack while ful missions in water depths up to 100 dynamic signature in its class. The base its side panels are molded with a rub- meters. Those willing to “cut the cord” micro-UUV is 4 7/8 inches in diameter, ber coating giving it a form of bumpers. have additional options. 40 inches in length, and weighs 22 lbs.

The user interface is based on internet Effective AUVs have become smaller, The standard system is rated to a depth standards such as HTML5 and WebGL and more affordable, in recent years. As of 300 meters.

to enable piloting through just a browser with their ROV cousins there are mul- While this vehicle may look like a that runs on laptops, tablets, and mobile tiple examples to consider. The modern “typical” industry offering it is differen- devices. The embrace of modern soft- “micro” AUV is perhaps best associated tiated by more than its small size. The ware open source approaches ensures with the products of BAE Systems, for- focus on end-user needs was most prev- that the code base can be continually merly Riptide Autonomous Solutions. alent in the software design. In contrast updated by both the community and the Riptide is a story of small vehicles and to typical proprietary architectures, the company. This allows user driven soft- rapid growth. Founded in 2015 Riptide micro-UUV featured a ? exible architec- ware changes such as new user interfac- quickly delivered a compact AUV offer- ture leveraging a large amount of open es to shape the operating experience and ing. source software. In the initial release of delivery of improved ROV capabilities Riptide’s ? rst product was the micro- micro-UUV software, Riptide offered to the global Trident community. UUV, a highly ? exible, open source au- code for the Arduino and Beaglebone This easy to use, high performance tonomous undersea vehicle that provid- Black development platforms, as well as package is available on Amazon star- ed a state-of-the-art, low cost solution support for the MOOS-IvP robot control ing at $1,700. It is truly a new era for well suited for developers of autonomy engine. This was a powerful feature set accessible, and useful, ocean robots. and behaviors, subsea sensors, and other for any AUV. At a starting price around

A Trident ROV.

Credit SOFAR Ocean www.marinetechnologynews.com

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