Abstract
Seabed mineral resources have been found on the bottom of the ocean, and to utilize them, samples must be taken and analyzed. This study develops a seafloor robotic explorer that can excavate and sample seafloor soil. In a previous study, we developed a drilling robot that could excavate 430 mm into the ground while underwater. However, excavation deeper than 430 mm was not possible because the discharging outlet became buried, making it difficult to discharge the drilled soil. In this paper, we develop a discharging mechanism utilizing water jetting to improve the excavation depth to 650 mm and potentially deeper.
Highlights
Seabed mineral resources such as rare earth elements have been found on the bottom of the ocean [1], [2]
CONCEPT OF THE DISCHARGING MECHANISM USING WATER JETTING We propose a discharging mechanism based on water jetting
The pore water pressure increases with increasing flow rate, and the effective stress decreases relatively
Summary
Seabed mineral resources such as rare earth elements have been found on the bottom of the ocean [1], [2]. There are seafloor drilling robots such as the Tri-SedimentBot [7], and Human-portable Underwater Robot [8] By using this method, samples can be obtained continuously without any disturbance. It is useful for acquiring the geological profile in the vertical direction It is inefficient for investigating deposits widely distributed in the horizontal direction because the sampling range is limited to the diameter of the pipe (approximately 100 mm). To solve this problem, this study aims to develop a seafloor robotic explorer that can excavate horizontally and collect samples of rare earth elements. Wide area exploration can be made possible by deploying multiple robots to autonomously search beneath the seabed
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