- Title: ITALY: Researchers see clean-up potential in oil slick robot
- Date: 19th January 2012
- Summary: EXTERIOR OF RESEARCH CENTRE ON SEA TECHNOLOGIES AND MARINE ROBOTICS WAVES LAPPING ON SHORE OUTSIDE CENTRE VARIOUS OF YACHTS AT SEA FERRI SPEAKING TO COLLEAGUE IN FRONT OF HYDRONET CLOSE-UPS OF FERRI AND COLLEAGUE HYDRONET IN WATER (SOUNDBITE) (English) GABRIELE FERRI, TECHNICAL MANAGER OF HYDRONET, SAYING: "HydroNet project aims at developing a new system for environmental monitoring. This system is composed by autonomous robots, you can there see one (POINTS BEHIND HIM TO HYDRONET) and buoys. The robots are able to (conduct) autonomous navigation. They sample the water up to 50 metres of depth, and they can analyse on board the water."
- Embargoed: 3rd February 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy, Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVA2PF1AX2UD4BTM8CEQXGEXNQJB
- Story Text: A hundred and eighty kilometres north of the Costa Concordia disaster unfolding along the Tuscan coast, is the port of Livorno, home of the Research Centre on Sea Technologies and Marine Robotics.
Scientists from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa work on various marine projects there, including the HydroNet project.
The HydroNet venture aims to improve the monitoring of water bodies based on a network of sensors and autonomous, floating and sensorised robots, embedded in an Ambient Intelligence infrastructure, as Gabriele Ferri, HydroNet's technical manager, explained.
"HydroNet project aims at developing a new system for environmental monitoring. This system is composed by autonomous robots....and buoys. The robots are able to (conduct) autonomous navigation. They sample the water up to 50 metres of depth, and they can analyse on board the water."
A network of sensors sample and analyse the water for the presence of chemicals and, according to HydroNet's researchers, could provide real time analysis for environmental authorities.
"The water is analysed on board by sensors developed by the HydroNet consortium. In particular we can measure chromium, cadmium, mercury, dissolved hydrocarbons, and oil slick on the water surface. After we get the measurement the measurement data are sent autonomously to a control station on the mainland, so we can have synoptic view of the quality of the water," said Ferri.
The scientists' craft has not yet been used in a real-world environment but, among other things, it is designed to help identify contaminants in the water caused by oil leaks.
Italy's environmental authorities are pondering the possible catastrophic fuel leakage from stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia. Along the Tuscan coast the Sant'Anna scientists are hoping to receive approval from the European Commission (EC) to help finance their project which involves a robot that can apparently monitor acquatic oil and chemical leaks in real time.
Off the coast of Tuscany, in the Mediterranean's largest marine sanctuary, are dolphins, whales, porpoises, seagrass, and coral, while the cruise ship Costa Concordia lies on its side, laden with half a million gallons of fuel.
The 4,200-passenger ship capsized last Friday night (January 13) on rocks near Giglio, one of seven islands comprising the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. The protected area is known for its natural beauty, diverse marine life and sea birds such as the rare Audouin's gull.
Gabriele Ferri says the Hydronet catamaran system is designed to detect the minutest of chemical traces in water.
He says sensors are embedded into fixed stations, like buoys, and mobile robot catamarans. Laser scanners, GPS sensors, magnetic compasses, and sonar technology help navigate the catamarans in diverse water scenarios, including coastal sea waters, creeks and rivers, natural and artificial lakes and lagoons, enabling the avoidance of collisions both above and below the water.
Information on the water's properties are sent instantaneously to supervisors via an automatic computer network.
In the year-and-a-half of testing undertaken so far the catamaran robots have been accompanied by a crew of researchers in a dinghy. Eventually, the plan is for the robot to be dispatched autonomously.
Underneath the vessel are four metallic syringes which can be dispatched to a depth of up to 50 metres below the surface to test the water quality.
Ferri says the robot will be useful in cases of oil leaks because current systems of analysing water are expensive. He says the low-cost, low weight, HydroNet boat can be deployed cheaply and effectively, working in conjunction with current systems.
"This can be used, for example, in the case of oil spill. For example, if a oil tanker releases some quantity of oil in the water, if we are monitoring an area, a coastal area, we can realise that this is happening and we can notify that to the environmental agency or to the port authorities," he said.
The HydroNet team plan a public demonstration of their project on January 28 before a final review by the EC is conducted three days later. If it deems the project to have accomplished its aims Ferri's team will receive the full funding agreed when the plans were originally approved three years ago.
The Sant'Anna School and its partners, which include Slovenia's Jozef Stefan Institute, the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), the University of Ljubljana, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, would then look for financial sponsorship to exploit the HydroNet commercially.
Within a few years the HydroNet could potentially be deployed across the world's coastlines, helping to warn of impending and current ecological damage and improve the cleanliness of the shores. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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