The robot, called OceanOne, went down about 300 feet to the wreck and uses AI to stay in place against the current. It has special sensors in its hands that enables the controller on the ship above to actually sense the weight and size of the object the robot is holding.
On its first real dive, the robot discovered a vase on the La Luna, which was King Louis XIV flagship. The robot successfully put the vase into a container that brought the vase to the surface.
The humanoid robot is capable of diving to more than 3,000 feet. Its vision is stereoscopic, and it looks for treasure like a human would – with two hands. In the future, it is hoped that such robots could help repair leaks such as the BP oil spill, or help disasters similar to the Fukishima reactor disaster.
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Sources:
http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20160427/how-did-a-stanford-designed-humanoid-discover-a-vase-from-a-louis-xiv-shipwreck/3
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/04/28/this-humanoid-robot-diver-is-submersible-avatar.html
Keywords: robot, humanoid, underwater, finds treasure, OceanOne, La Luna