Treasure Hunt Leads to Invention of Undersea Robot

Treasure Hunt Leads to Invention of Undersea Robot

WASHINGTON—

What started off as a hunt for sunken treasure turned into the invention of a low-cost, undersea robot, easy enough for anyone to use.

The underwater robot called Trident grew out of a 1970s magazine article about a treasure hunt.

“There was this story that there was a robbery and gold was thrown to the bottom of this underwater cave, and all these treasure hunters and scuba¹ divers², no one was able to get to the bottom…..so Eric [Stackpole] had this big idea that he was going to build this underwater robot to go explore,” explains David Lang, co-founder of OpenROV.

David Lang and Eric Stackpole took a smartphone, and made it waterproof³. Thrusters propel Trident through the water.

The little robot, tethered to a buoy⁴, can dive to a depth of 100 meters. It sends a video signal — including temperature, depth and directional information — to an operator, who controls Trident remotely via an Internet connection, and sees what it sees through a virtual reality headset.

The Trident hasn't helped the explorers find gold, but Lang says the real treasure is the chance to help people understand the importance and fragility of our underwater ecosystem⁵.

“The most important thing and first thing is that we have to get people to care…and I think the way to do that is to allow them to engage," said Lang. It’s to give them the tools to actually explore themselves and to feel some sense of ownership in the process.”

The developers hope the low-cost, easy to operate Trident robot will become a powerful research tool. The public campaign to raise operating funds has collected three-quarters of a million dollars and has the potential to make even non-swimmers ocean explorers.

1 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。

2 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

3 waterproof   

n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水

参考例句：

• My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。
• All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。

4 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

5 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。