So far, we have seen robotic vehicles such as bomb disposal robots that are being used in Iraq to sniff out roadside bombs for the coalition forces and then there are the unmanned drones that are used for reconnaissance and striking terrorist targets from the air. However, there was yet to be a unmanned machine capable of underwater exploration that could sustain itself for extended amounts of time and carry out with its tasks, with minimum of human intervention.

Now that dream has finally been turned into a reality with the successful testing of the world’s first autonomous underwater vehicle that is not only capable of going to deeper depths, but can also sustain and power itself with the help of the abundant ocean thermal power. The all new robot called, Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangrian Observer Thermal RECharging (SOLO-TREC) autonomous underwater vehicle has been the brainchild of NASA, US Navy and university researchers and the fully automated machines powers itself from the thermal energy generated with the warm surface water and cold temperatures of the depths of the ocean. The SOLO-TREC consists of phase change materials that expand when it comes into contact with the warmer surface water and contracts as device submerges into the cooler depths. This constant phenomenon, pressurizes the oil inside the float, which in turn drives an internal hydraulic motor. This motor generates enough energy to recharge the under water vessel’s batteries and thus propels the SOLO-TREC forward.

This all new underwater exploration vehicle weighs about 84 kgs and its first prototype was put through a standard testing procedure in the year 2009 by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California. The SOLO-TREC since the beginning of the test phase has so far successfully completed over 300 dives at a maximum depth of 1,640 feet. This incredible invention during the initial testing was able to generate over 6,100 joules of energy per dive, that was more than sufficient to power the rover’s instruments, GPS receiver, communications device and buoyancy-control pump.

According to Jack Jones (Principal Designer, JPL),

“People have long dreamed of a machine that produces more energy than it consumes and runs indefinitely. While not a true perpetual motion machine, since we actually consume some environmental energy, the prototype system demonstrated by JPL and its partners can continuously monitor the ocean without a limit on its lifetime imposed by energy supply.”