AIR Option 1: Technology Translation: Gliding Robotic Fish for Long-duration Sensing in Aquatic Environments

这个PFI：空气技术翻译项目专注于翻译密歇根州立大学最近开发的滑翔机器鱼技术，以满足市场对适用于各种水环境的廉价移动传感技术的需求。翻译后的滑翔机器鱼技术具有成本低、体积小、机动性强、运行时间长、适应多种应用的独特特点。与市场上领先的竞争技术相比，它在性能、成本效益和便携性方面具有典范优势，包括螺旋桨驱动的自动水下机器人(AUV)和海洋滑翔机。该项目通过以下方式实现其目标：(1)开发模块化有效载荷架构，以便于产品的方便定制和具有成本效益的维护；(2)开发太阳能和波能收集系统，以实现连续、长时间的现场作业；以及(3)展示结合了这些进步的滑翔机器鱼的原型。该伙伴关系让环境监测行业和该技术的潜在用户在原型开发和市场分析方面提供指导，因为他们涉及将滑翔机器鱼技术转化为可能导致竞争性商业现实的途径的潜力。预计未来15年潜在的经济影响将超过2亿美元，这将有助于美国在自主水下传感市场的竞争力。从长远来看，社会影响将是在监测水质和水生生态系统、检查水下结构(如石油和天然气行业的海底钻探基础设施)以及保护港口和海上边界方面的能力得到加强。

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating the gliding robotic fish technology recently developed at Michigan State University to meet the market need for an inexpensive mobile sensing technology for various aquatic environments. The translated gliding robotic fish technology has the following unique features: low cost, compact size, high maneuverability, long operational duration, and adaptability to versatile applications. It provides exemplary advantages in performance, cost-effectiveness, and portability when compared to the leading competing technologies in this market place, including propeller-driven autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and ocean gliders. The project accomplishes its goals by (1) developing a modularized payload architecture to facilitate convenient customization and cost-effective maintenance of the product, (2) developing a solar and wave-energy harvesting system to enable continuous, long-duration field operation, and (3) demonstrating a prototype of a gliding robotic fish incorporating these advances. The partnership engages the environmental monitoring industry and potential users of the technology to provide guidance in prototype development and market analysis as they pertain to the potential to translate the gliding robotic fish technology along a path that may result in a competitive commercial reality. The potential economic impact is expected to be over $200M for the next 15 years, which will contribute to the U.S. competitiveness in the autonomous underwater sensing market. The societal impact, long term, will be enhanced capabilities in monitoring water quality and aquatic ecosystems, in inspecting underwater structures such as subsea drilling infrastructure for the oil and gas industry, and in securing ports and maritime borders.