Massive Underwater Ditch-Digging Robot
A remotely-operated undersea robot that clears trenches to bury pipelines and cables
One of the world’s biggest underwater robots, the new UT-1 Ultra Trencher weighs 60 tons on land, stands 18 feet tall, and measures nearly 26 feet wide. The remote-controlled Ultra Trencher can also rumble along at 2 to 3 knots, but its main job is cutting trenches for oil pipelines or telecommunications cables.
After being dispatched from a boat, the mobile-home-sized robot, which can work up to a mile below the surface, propels itself down to the ocean floor, lands over a pipeline, and shoots high-pressure jets of water on either side of the pipe, digging holes up to several feet wide and deep. The robot buries the pipeline or cable, protecting it from fishing, currents and other potentially damaging events.
Interested in an undersea workhorse? Check out the specs here.
Via Robots.net