Robot II, A Small Unmanned Untethered Underwater Vehicle

A small unmanned, untethered submarine vehicle has been designed and is nearing completion. It has a speed of three knots for about four hours with a design depth of 300 feet. The main mission of the vehicle is as a platform for side-scan sonar. The vehicle has a cylindrical pressure hull fabricated in aluminum with an external skin to provide a low-drag shape. The submarine operates autonomously under the supervision of a Z-80-based microcomputer system which includes a digital autopilot, a ballast control system, and an acoustic command link. The autopilot controls four stabilizers independently, receiving information from a set of very low-cost sensors. The system is capable of carrying out a pre-selected series of stored concise commands as well as responding to changes received from the shore-based acoustic communication system.