A robotic underwater vehicle that can hover in place like a helicopter has been developed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The new craft, Odyssey IV, is the latest in a series of small, inexpensive artificially intelligent submarines developed over the last two decades by The MIT Sea Grant College Program’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicles laboratory.

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Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, are set to explore the world’s deepest undersea volcanoes and find out what lives in a ‘lost world’ five kilometres beneath the Caribbean, using the UK’s newest research ship, RRS James Cook. From the ship, the team will send the remotely-operated vehicle Isis, and new robot submarine, Autosub6000 into the abyss.

In two expeditions over three years, the researchers will look for new geological features and new species of marine life in the rift on the seafloor.

Team leader, Dr. Jon Copely explained: “The deep ocean is the largest ecosystem on our plant, so we need to understand its patterns of life.

“Deep-sea exploration has also given us new cancer treatment and better fibre-optic cables for the internet, both thanks to deep sea creatures.”

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iRobot has announced a sole licensing agreement with UW TechTransfer at the University of Washington, to commercialise Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Seaglider technology previously supported by the Office of Naval Research and National Science Foundation.

Seagliders help civilian, academic and military personnel make oceanographic measurements at a fraction of the cost of traditional research vessels or moored instruments. These long-range, high-endurance vehicles economise on energy consumption with a buoyancy-based propulsion system to support mission ranges of thousands of kilometers and deployments lasting up to several months. Instruments can be attached to the Seaglider to continuously collect organic physical properties across a range of depths and areas, providing insights to oceanographers and military planners.

Commenting on the agreement, Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman, iRobot, said: “We have a strong track record for transferring new technology from research initiatives into products that support military missions.

“Ten years ago we transformed the original PackBot into a combat-proven robot used today by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and licensing the Seaglider from the University of Washington will help our robots conquer new underwater frontiers.”