Off the coast of Malta, Chris Clark was sitting on a small boat waiting for his聽underwater robot聽to talk to him. It was autonomously exploring the sea bed hunting for signs of a wreckage, but was unable to relay what it had found until it surfaced.
鈥淲e could have gone back to shore, but we prefer to sit out there babysitting it, chit chatting and hypothesising about what it might find,鈥� says Clark at Harvey Mudd College in California.
On this occasion, the robot struck wreckage-hunting gold. It discovered a Fairey Swordfish, a second world war biplane torpedo bomber, that nobody聽had known was there.
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The discovery was part of a long-term project by Clark and his colleagues to bring robotics to archaeology. His team has developed computer systems that use AI to help better analyse images of the sea floor, as well as algorithms to improve the search and navigation of a target area. They presented the project and thelatest find at the in Brisbane, Australia, last month.
Initially when looking for a potential wreckage, the team plot a big area for the robot, or autonomous underwater vehicle, to explore. Staying close to the surface, it then beams sound waves down under the sea, creating acoustic images of what lies below.
When the robot returns, AI ranks the most promising areas for further exploration, looking for signs like long shadows and sharp corners that could indicate a manmade object. The system then plots a new route, maximised for the best chance of finding something interesting.
Then off the robot goes again. It is torpedo-shaped,聽moves using a propeller, and can spend a few hours underwater at a time.
Similar robots have been used to try to find missing planes. For example, Air France flight 477 was discovered this way after it had gone missing off the northern coast of Brazil. However, a robotic search for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 has not yielded any success.
During the second world war, Malta was an important Allied base and was heavily bombed by Axis forces, resulting in many planes and ships sinking to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. This makes it a hotspot for wreckages and the perfect testing ground for underwater autonomous vehicles.
鈥淚t is dangerous and time-consuming to send divers to look for wreckages, so obviously, we need to get robots down there,鈥� says Clark.
However, there are plenty of people who are interested in finding sunken treasure. This means that Clark and his team have had to keep the discovery under wraps.
They initially found the bomber in 2017, but are currently in discussions about making it a protected site. So, until then, they won鈥檛 reveal its location for fear of treasure seekers stealing parts of the plane. 鈥淚t is a piece of history,鈥� says Clark.
