Tallinn University of Technology researchers Asko Ristolainen and Taavi Salum?e watch the U-CAT robot in an aquarium

When was the last time you heard about a sea turtle getting stuck in a shipwreck? Never, that's when. Although that's partly because stuck turtles rarely make the news, it's also due to the fact that they're relatively small and highly maneuverable. With that in mind, the European Union-funded ARROWS project has created U-CAT – a prototype robotic sunken-ship-exploring sea turtle.

Just like a real turtle, U-CAT has four independently-driven flippers that allow it to move up and down, forward and backward, and to pivot on the spot. Propellers would let it do those same things, although they'd also churn up much more visibility-limiting silt in the process.

U-CAT is autonomous, so it doesn't require a control cable that could get snagged or tangled. It also has an onboard video camera, which records video that can later be used to visually map out the inside of the shipwreck.

Plans call for the technology to be tested at underwater archeological sites in the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea. The idea is that U-CATs could ultimately be used in conjunction with other underwater robots that are too large to enter wrecks, and too expensive to risk losing within them.

Once they get into regular service, U-CATs might not be the only robotic turtles in the sea. Scientists from the ETH Zurich research group are developing a roboturtle of their own, known as naro-tartaruga.

The U-CAT prototype can be seen in action in the video below. If you're interested in seeing it first-hand, its public premier will be taking place this weekend at the London Science Museum's Robot Safari exhibit.

Sources: Tallinn University of Technology, ARROWS Project

U-CAT：可用于探索沉船残骸的机器人海龟

技术塔林大学的研究人员阿斯科Ristolainen和Taavi Salum?观看水族馆

当被你听说过海龟的最后一次陷入生活的沉船？从来没有，那个时候。虽然这部分是因为卡住龟很少有新闻价值，这也是由于这样的事实，他们是相对较小和高机动性。考虑到这一点，欧盟资助的ARROWS项目创造了U-CAT - 原型机器人沉没的船，探索海龟

就像一个真正的乌龟，U-CAT拥有四个独立驱动的鳍状肢允许其上下移动，向前和向后，并枢转当场。螺旋桨会让它做的同样的事情，虽然他们也想翻腾起来的过程中更加的知名度限制淤泥。

U-CAT是自治的，所以它不需要控制电缆，可以得到钩住或缠结。它也有一个机载摄像机，记录视频以后可以用来直观地映射出沉船内。

按照计划，该技术在水下考古遗址在地中海和波罗的海测试海。我们的想法是，U-CAT的最终可能与其他水下机器人太大的进入沉船，太昂贵的冒险之内失去他们一起使用。

一旦他们进入正规的服务，U-CATS可能不是只有机器人海龟在海中。从苏黎世联邦理工学院研究小组的科学家正在开发自己的，被称为纳罗 - tartaruga的roboturtle

的U-CAT原型可以在下面的视频中的动作可以看出。如果你有兴趣看到它的第一手，其公共总理将举行本周末在伦敦科学博物馆的机器人野生动物园展览