Underwater robots used in Japan had origins at USF

The suitcase and football-sized underwater robots that scoured a tsunami devastated port of a city in Japan last week, had origins in Tampa, as part of a research project at the University of South Florida.

Now, the search-and-rescue technology is based at Texas A&M University under the directorship of Robin Murphy, who began the project while at the USF College of Marine Science's Center for Ocean Technology.

Last week, she and a cadre of Japanese and U.S. scientists, including Eric Steimle of the St. Petersburg-based AEOS Inc. and Karen Dreger associate researcher with USF's Center for Ocean Technology, converged along Japan's northeast coast, which is still reeling from a major earthquake and subsequent tsunami that ravaged the coastline.

The U.S scientists brought along four underwater robots that are designed to recover victims who got trapped in submerged vehicles as well as inspect underwater portions of piers and bridges to assess damage.

The project searched six sites in five days, according to a blog written by Murphy over the course of the project. No victims were found.

She described one of the remote-controlled robots as a "camcorder with thrusters."

In the port of Minami-sanriku-choy, she said, "We were surprised at the lack of cars and other big objects underwater. The lower portion of the town is one rumbled mass of cars, piers, metal pilings and such all twisted about, so we expected to see at least some of the same in the water.

"We did find a 15-meter long structure, possibly the framing of one of the unfortunate buildings," she wrote. "Mostly we found the anchor stones for the harbor and some ropes (but none drifting high enough to foul propellers) and lots of small, low debris."

Though nothing was found, the images proved that the port was safe for ship traffic to resume.

The robots belong to the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue and utilized the same cutting-edge technology that make up the USF underwater robots that assessed damage in the Gulf of Mexico last year in the months after the BP oil spill.

Besides having the ability to transmit visual images to the surface in real time, the robots also have imaging sonar that can penetrate murky water and see objects clearer than human divers.

"The use of underwater robots for disasters is fairly new," said Vickie Chachere, USF spokeswoman in a news release, "and the team hopes the five-day deployment will lead to the adoption of marine robots worldwide and to improvements and new research directions."