Autonomous Soft Robot for Locomotion in Granular Seabed Media

EmergingDx Inc, in collaboration with its academic and industrial partners, will advance and further develop a novel burrowing soft robot which will be designed not only as an operational tool but also as a measurement instrument for assessing geomechanical properties of seabed environments. Once it is fully developed, EmergingDx's soft robot will be capable of untethered, autonomous locomotion within granular media in shallow sea-floor environments. The robot will be able to operate with an onboard power source and control system that can permit up to 2 hours of movement and 72 hours of stationary sensing. The robot will be capable of movement within submerged sand up to a depth within 1 meter of the sand surface, and horizontal movement up to 10 meters, on a single battery charge.