UUV Aquabotix, a Sydney, Australia based company has received an order from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab for an underwater drone. The company considers this a proud moment in its history since it is a recognition of their technical and technological capabilities in manufacturing unmanned underwater vehicles. The order from NASA has been routed through the company’s US arm, Aquabotix Technology Corporation.
NASA is engaged in exploratory work with the objective of mapping the oceanic environment in multiple dimensions and the remote controlled robotic vehicle that Aquabotix will build for them will be deployed for this purpose. The particular model chosen by NASA, the Endura 300, is capable of traveling up to a depth of 300 meters and its readings and observations are integrated with on-boards sensors and can be recorded on the ground.
As part of NASA’s Ocean Worlds program, the institution is undertaking a study of the ocean as related to Earth and its different components to identify candidates for life in the solar system project.
Aquabotix has also issued a statement mentioning that they are not really looking at this NASA order from the revenue perspective since the value of the order, in money terms, may not be significant, particularly when compared to the revenue the company is already earning.
However, this is seen as an endorsement of their strength in meeting the needs of the most discerning of customers, worldwide. Going ahead, this could encourage Aquabotix to further sharpen their robotics technology for application in products used in underwater missions of different nature.
Some of their products include underwater drones and networked underwater cameras for commercial, high-end consumer and military applications. Aquabotix enjoys an edge in many of these products as a pioneer and early-mover.