Four Research Drones Sailing Alone Across the Pacific

In one of those truly cool moments in science, four floating drones, piloted by oceanographers in California are slowly making their way from California to the Hawaiian Islands. Even more impressive is that they are doing so without benefit of any sort of engine. As reported by InsideScience, the drones are made of two main components; the first floats on top of the water like any other boat. The second lies just below it, hovering in the sea. Because the two parts are tethered together, constant wave motion continually pulls them closer together or pushes them farther apart, and that's where the drone gets its energy to move. All the pilots have to do is steer.

The drones, or Wave Gliders as the research team calls them, are the brainchild of Roger Hine, founder and chief technical officer of Liquid Robotics, the company that made them. Each has its own name: Papa Mau, Benjamin, Fontaine Maru and Piccard Maru. The purpose of the surfboard sized drones is to collect data. To that end they are equipped with sensors (powered by solar arrays) that note water and air temperature, wave moments, weather conditions and various components of the sea water in which they are floating, such as salinity and fluorescence. Also onboard is a broadcast module that sends the data back to the research team who in yet another cool move, make it available on the company web site to anyone who wants to view it.

The Wave Gliders left San Francisco Bay November 17^th and are expected to hit Hawaii sometime this week. After that they will split into two groups of two; one pair will head towards Australia, the other towards Japan.

On the company web site, Hine makes clear that the Wave Gliders aren't just for use by their own team, they're for sale, and the company says it's sold a lot of them thus far, though they don't divulge actual numbers. Potential customers are likely to be follow researchers, but it doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility that hobbyists might want to get one as well. After all, once someone buys one, they are free to add any other components they want, so long as it doesn't interfere with the power generation system. Also, there is the issue of collecting enough solar energy to run other devices, which pretty much leaves out video recorders.

Still, it's a truly novel concept. It's the first time pilotless vehicles have traversed the great seas, though is surely won't be the last.