Professor of submersible robotic engineering Naomi Kato is completing early tests on the SOTAB (Spilled Oil Tracking Autonomous Buoy) and hope these can be a common feature on all oil tankers in the next three years.
In the event of a leakage on-board these GPS equipped devices would be automatically dropped into the sea to track the spread of released substances and make them easier to clear up.
When it senses the slick SOTAB sinks down to around ten metres and, using several cameras, sends data back to base for further study of thickness of the offending oil and flow direction.
According to Japan Today, here is how Kato justifies the usage of such buoys. “‘The development of an oil field in Russia’s Sakhalin and Chinese economic expansion will likely lead to increased tanker traffic in Japanese coastal waters.’ The buoy is intended to be deposited along the edge of an oil slick in the sea at the time of an accident. A sensor to analyze the stickiness of liquids detects heavy oil, which is more glutinous than sea water.”
Four fins allow the robot to steer around slicks and measure its size then takes samples of the water to detect the extent of material in the sea and the data sent back to assist clean up crews.
At present SOTAB weighs in about 110 kilos and the aim is to get this down to a rather svelte 30kg over the coming years and become standard equipment on ships which would release them in any adverse event.
At present battery life is an issue, lasting a few hours only, so Kato and the team are looking at solar cell power and utilising tidal power generation to keep them in action for up to 30 hours.
Via ZDNET
