Vol.31 Underwater drone that expands the place of activity in the vast sea [DRONE DESIGN] | DRONE

The operation of full -fledged drones in the world has spread, and its activities are spreading underwater.In the international convention "Techno-Ocean 2021" on the theme of marine science and technology and marine industry held in Kobe at the end of last year, UAV, ROV (remote-type unmanned submarine), AUV (autonomous water exploration), called underwater drones.The state -of -the -art topic about robots was taken up, and it was introduced that it was going to be a new business opportunity.

Techno-Ocean is an international convention aimed at deepening understanding of the latest technology and industrial business in the ocean-related field, and has been held in Kobe every two years since 1986.The sponsored technician network is composed of industry -academia -government members, mainly experts in marine -related fields.The 18th, which was held for three days from December 9, 2021, has a lot of interest in environmental issues, energy development, marine resource exploration to aquaculture industry, and many other people, business stakeholders, and young generations.It was a program.In particular, the topic of underwater drones, including underwater robots, one of the themes, attracted a lot of attention.

Among them, the exhibitions with nearly 60 companies and organizations participated in various types of underwater drones, all of which were impressive.It is a specific application of a small underwater drone, but explore the state of the seabed, check the bottom of the ship, manage the cage and net installed off the coast, and check the equipment for dam and offshore wind power generation.increase.In addition to shooting with cameras, you can use radar and sonar to collect various accurate data, so the place of activity is even more expanded.

In recent years, the aircraft has become smaller and easier to handle, and the price has become much more affordable, so the number of cases that are purchased more than rentals is increasing.When sales are growing steadily, the situation may be similar to the empty drone.

According to the underwater drone association, which exhibited the booth, the underwater drone market, which performs inspections and investigations in the sea and underwater instead of divers, is rapidly increasing, growing to 580 billion yen in 2022.It is expected.It seems that the number of participants in underwater drone safety dive -accredited courses developed by the association nationwide is also increasing.

The CHASING series, which was exhibited by the Space One, allows you to move in all directions with eight slasters and work at a depth of 100 to 150m.There are options such as 4K cameras, laser scalers and multi -beam sonar, and we are developing an arm that can do detailed work.

The SDQ-101 of Cue Eye, which develops an original underwater TV robot, is characterized by its compact size and its own thruster arrangement.The other Delta series has the strength to work at a depth depth of 150-200m, and you can see high -definition images taken with a high -definition camera in real time via optical cable.It was possible to customize the aircraft, and domestic manufacturers were flexible.

The industrial underwater drone DIVEUNIT 300, also developed by domestic manufacturers Fuldepth, is available at a depth of 300m, and has a function to hover and adjust to a certain position even in the tide.A set of PCs, communication equipment and 300m optical cables, and there are attachments such as 360 ° cameras and water samples.

The Mantas series developed by Martac, which was exhibited by Akira Shinsha, is a water USV that can be fully autonomous, and is used mainly for port security, monitoring, and waterway mapping.The large models on display were attracting visitors due to the beauty of the design.

At the booth of Furuno Electric Society, a prototype of the water exploration drone under development at Osaka Prefectural University was on display.It is said that the river is close to the sea, so the design is designed to be lighter and easy to operate with a design that considers the propulsion performance.

At the moment, underwater drones have no significant differences in the appearance design and characteristics, but it is the same as empty drones, and new ideas may be incorporated as market growth.The next Techno-Ocean will be held in 2023, so I hope that a new underwater drone will appear there.