Ocean One: Robotic Avatar for Extending Human Reach

Stanford researchers at the Khatib Lab in collaboration with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology's Red Sea Research Center and Meka Robotics, have created Ocean One, a bi-manual force-controlled humanoid robot that enables immediate and intuitive haptic interaction in oceanic environments. This robotic diver has a high degree of autonomy in physical interaction but is also connected to a human expert through an interactive interface. The ability to distance humans physically from dangerous and unreachable work spaces while connecting their skills, intuition and experience to the task can fundamentally alter remote work. These robotic avatars can explore and acquire materials in hazardous and inhospitable settings, maintain support equipment at remote sites, build infrastructure for monitoring the environment, and perform disaster prevention and recovery operations -- be it deep in oceans and mines, at mountain tops, or in space.

Stanford News April 2016
“Maiden voyage of Stanford's humanoid robotic diver recovers treasures from King Louis XIV's wrecked flagship”
Video