BIOSwimmer: In-Liquid Inspection System

In support of the Department of Homeland Securitys continued efforts to lead the unified national effort to secure our nation, Boston Engineering has developed the BIOSwimmer UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle). This technology, developed under SBIR (Phase I and Phase II), is focused on providing a solution to searching, inspecting, and operating in challenging and constricted underwater areas in order to support the pressing yet unique missions that act to prevent and deter terrorist attacks, ensure safe and secure borders, and support lawful immigration, all while not impeding the free flow of commerce. BIOSwimmer is a novel, biologically-inspired UUV that can rapidly provide actionable intelligence in many maritime applications. It is currently focused on port operations that look for contraband or other dangerous items on ship hulls. It has many advantages, including being able to scan a ship 80 percent faster than an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), at 50 percent of the cost of a dive team, and with required training expected to be under 1 week for a port officer/user. We estimate that port security is enhanced by BIOSwimmers ability to inspect an additional 20 percent of a ship versus competitive Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), scan three times the number of ships in a harbor in a given 8 hour shift vs. an ROV, and provide ease of use (such as launching in under 5 minutes from a location of convenience).