An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is disclosed for transporting and delivering a positively buoyant payload and/or a negatively buoyant payload to a destination. The AUV can be gravitationally propelled through the sea. The AUV can comprise a flexible vehicle body that receives a positively buoyant payload (e.g., incompressible fluid, like fuel) and can comprise a negative buoyancy component (e.g., elongated spine, electronics, cargo, etc.). A weight of the negative buoyancy component is correlated to a volume of the positively buoyant payload whereby the AUV is substantially neutrally buoyant at sea. The positively buoyant payload can be hydrostatically pressurized to hydrodynamically shape the body. The vehicle body can be collapsible for storage. The AUV can collect underwater intelligence data and transmit said data when surfacing. The AUV can loiter at sea for long periods of time. Associated system and methods are disclosed for transporting a positively buoyant payload with an AUV.

The present invention relates to a system for marine seismic refraction survey using a remotely piloted air/water drone and a method thereof for acquiring refracted wave by providing a receiver on the air/water drone among marine seismic methods, being configured to include: a surveyvessel provided with a seismicsource generating a sound; and the air/water drone moving tethered to the surveyvessel while floating on the sea or operating under water and being capable of moving to a desired location by generating a lift force and a turning force through remote control. In addition, the system is to be used for marine seismic refraction survey by providing a hydrophone and streamer and a recording system which may record the seismic wave on an air/water drone, a remotely piloted marine observation system, whereby an effect is given to be able to acquire data of seismic refraction.

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is disclosed for transporting and delivering a positively buoyant payload and/or a negatively buoyant payload to a destination. The AUV can be gravitationally propelled through the sea. The AUV can comprise a flexible vehicle body that receives a positively buoyant payload (e.g., incompressible fluid, like fuel) and can comprise a negative buoyancy component (e.g., elongated spine, electronics, cargo, etc.). A weight of the negative buoyancy component is correlated to a volume of the positively buoyant payload whereby the AUV is substantially neutrally buoyant at sea. The positively buoyant payload can be hydrostatically pressurized to hydrodynamically shape the body. The vehicle body can be collapsible for storage. The AUV can collect underwater intelligence data and transmit said data when surfacing. The AUV can loiter at sea for long periods of time. Associated system and methods are disclosed for transporting a positively buoyant payload with an AUV.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for inspecting an aircraft fuel tank. The invention also relates to an aircraft fuel tank including an inspection apparatus. The invention provides an aircraft fuel tank, the aircraft fuel tank containing a robotic device. The robotic device is arranged to be movable within the aircraft fuel tank. The robotic device further comprises a sensor for inspecting the aircraft fuel tank.

The present invention is related generally to electric energy production and storage and more particularly to three devices that can work independently or as a system for generating, storing and retrieving of significant volume of green electric energy from sea and ocean waves. The present invention comprises of three module systems for wave power amplifying, wave power harnessing and conversion to electric energy, and energy storage. The system could double the height and quadruple the power of any wave, harness and convert all the wave power to electrical energy, store it without loss for as long as needed, and release it when and as needed.

A watercraft running system includes a propulsion device, a steering device, a course changing operator, a port-side attitude control plate and a starboard-side attitude control plate, a port-side actuator and a starboard-side actuator, and a controller. The controller is operable in a first control mode in which the steering device is controlled according to the operation of the course changing operator and a second control mode in which the port-side actuator and the starboard-side actuator are controlled according to the operation of the course changing operator. The controller is configured or programmed to prohibit shifting from the first control mode to the second control mode if the steering position of the steering device is not a neutral position, and to permit the shift from the first control mode to the second control mode if the steering position is the neutral position.

A biomimetic turtle device includes a trunk unit, a limb unit and a control unit. The control unit includes a water depth sensor which detects water depth where the biomimetic turtle device is, and a circuit module which receives the signal from the water depth sensor and determines if the biomimetic turtle device is at a target water depth position, wherein a driving mechanism or a weight adjusting mechanism is operated if the biomimetic turtle device is not at the target water depth position to vary the volume or weight of the trunk unit so as to adjust density of the trunk unit to thereby adjust a water depth position of the biomimetic turtle device.

An aquaculture system can include an aquafarm with one or more aquatic pods of aquatic organisms and a remote device to manage the aquafarm. An aquatic pod may be associated with an aquatic structure with a buoyancy system and a control device to automatically perform daily farming functions. The aquatic structure may include an enclosure to hold the aquatic organisms. The control device may be configured to use a smart buoyancy assistant to control the buoyancy system and to determine the farming task to perform in response to environmental stimuli. The remote device can receive data representing crop metrics, harvest results, and sensor data. The remote device can aggregate data from multiple aquatic pods and correlate the data to generate aquaculture models to improve the harvest results. The remote device can generate overview and maintenance reports for the aquafarm.

The methods and devices described herein provide a sensor array positioning system that may allow a user to program a series of sensor array locations, depths and orientations into a control center, which therein commands two or more unmanned surface or submarine vehicles which positions one or more sensor arrays. The devices consist of at least two unmanned vehicles, two or more tow cables, a flexible sensor array comprising one or more sensors, and one or more buoyancy engines. The unmanned vehicles may consist of a master vehicle and one or more slave vehicles, wherein the master vehicle commands the one or more slave vehicles.

A system and method for providing accurate trim and list angles of a ship through an array of sensors incorporating real-time kinematics and inertial measurement units. The software application would create a D model of the localized sensor data for detailed ship characteristics. Artificial intelligence will process all the sensor data through a large database of route data, weather conditions, and past performances to determine the optimum ballast levels to set the trim/list angles for maximum fuel efficiency. Each trip will provide detailed course information for continual improvement.