#crabster

A plump weiner on a hook?

That's a Tasty Dangle!

Korean Institute of ocean science and technology, has just launched a giant six-legged crabster robot to scan the ocean floor. According to the news source, the robot is an Animatronic type having similar look with Crabs found beneath the ocean floor, hence the name of the robot was called Crabster or Robotic Crab.

It is a six-legged Robotic Crab that will have the ability to walk on ocean floors to obtain data for the research institute. The Institute is known for their commitment to studying the Oceans and the lives in it, and the development of the Animatronic robot is another way of revealing their commitment and level of progress.

It is believed that the use of sensors and digital cameras will help the robot to give accurate and precise data on the conditions of the ocean and seabed. The numerous features obtainable from the robot revealed that it may offer little or no limitation to the level of research it can carry out on the ocean floor.

  The Animatronic nature of the robot makes it difficult to be differentiated from the natural crabs in the seabed. The crabster is believed to do what actual crabs could do which includes swimming and crawling on the ocean floor, a technology developed to have a complete and silent spy of all the macro and micro living organisms in the ocean, especially on the ocean floor.

  According to its video release, the robot has the capacity of crawling tirelessly on the ocean floor to cover miles of distance transferring the obtained data to the scientists in their controlling unit through the help of its multiple and multipurpose cameras and data sensors and analytic systems.

It is also designed to map the seabed, survey wrecks, and help reveal lost items in the ocean. Coupled with its highly illuminating light, the robot can operate even in the dirty ocean or at night using its lights stationed at various sides to reveal the hidden views of any of the ocean environment.

The developers had also highlighted the need such robot could be to the oil and gas companies because it could be used to monitor pipelines and respond to oil spills. Otherwords, such robot could be the best technology for the detection of early oil spills in the ocean wherever there are crude oil pipelines or its finished products pipelines crossing the ocean floor. Besides that, oil exploitation activities taking place within the sea could be controlled and viewed from the sea surface using the robot.

At the experimental level, the robot was able to go more than 200 meters deep in an ocean, a depth believed to be improved on based on the type or depth of any ocean the robot may be intended to be used for, for instance; a model known as CR6000 was able to go more than 6000 meters deep in an ocean.

The robot is not a fast moving object on the ocean floor, later its movement is slow but its area of view coverage can be wider than expected. The slow movement enables the viewer to feel the real nature and environmental condition of the ocean floor. The estimated walking speed had been fixed at 2 feet per minute.

To have complete control and easy retrieval in the case of damage or technical fault, the crabster is usually connected with a cable to a boat which may be floating on the surface of the ocean. The cable may bear the energy source, data transfer, and operational control connections of the robot. In this case, four people may be in the boat to control its movement, its arms, and sonar.

The operational features revealed that the robot does not use propellers to swim rather its swims with arms like actual crabs, an ideal believed to reduce debris disturbance in the ocean. The various versions produced by the institute including the giant types are still undergoing the various test to reveal their usability specifications.  

Even Uther can agree, Crabster™ tastes so good, it’s downright heavenly!

Crabster™. Half lobster*, half crab**, all delicious***.