Biomorphism is a great way to remain inconspicuous, even when in plain sight. Yesterday, September 20, the portal wenweipo.com He reported that engineers of the Northwestern Polytechnic University of China (Xi'an city) have developed and successfully tested a robotic copy of a sea stingray, which can potentially become a weapon of the future.
According to the developers, the latest version of the mechanical ramp has a wingspan of about 3 m and a mass of 470 kg. During the tests, the underwater vehicle, which imitates the appearance of a stingray and its movements under water by 90%, dived to a depth of 1025 m, collected research data and successfully rose to the surface of the sea.
Testing of a mechanical ramp
The authors of the mechanical stingray indicate that it can make deep-sea dives to explore the seas and oceans. At the same time, the ability to carry various payloads and autonomy allow it to be used for other purposes — for example, military ones.
Test scheme of a mechanical ramp
Image source: wenweipo.com
Earlier, a similar development was presented in Turkey. The company Albayraklar Group announced the release of a fundamentally new type of underwater drones called WATTOZZ (from tur. vatoz — sea stingray). According to the developers, the robotic underwater drone looks almost indistinguishable from a real stingray. Due to the materials used, it is impossible to detect it with the help of sonars and other tracking systems for underwater targets. Attached to the bottom of the ship with the help of electronic magnets, a group of fish robots can easily sink it when the built-in warhead is activated. Another purpose of mechanical ramps is observation and exploration.