Autonomous robots are essential to the future of marine science, engineering, and exploration. Understanding the ocean’s complex physical and biological processes requires robust observing systems, like MBARI’s long-range AUV (LRAUV). 

The LRAUV was designed to fill the need for a mobile underwater robot to observe upper ocean processes. It has been tested over 36,000 hours offshore across a fleet of eight vehicles and has a unique ultra-low energy transit mode, allowing the vehicle to be operated without a support ship. 

MBARI engineers have outfitted the LRAUV with various tools, allowing scientists to track and control the platform remotely and collect real-time ocean data through microbial sampling, bioluminescence, active bio-acoustic imaging, water sampling, plankton imaging, and multibeam mapping. 

A unique ultra-low-energy transit mode allows the LRAUVs to operate without a support ship while still supporting high-power payloads An open-source dynamic simulator, along with a backseat computer system, facilitates custom application development and testing. A novel offshore battery recharging station is being developed for the LRAUV to extend deployments to six months or more. 

The ocean is critical to life on Earth but faces a fragile future and a rising tide of threats. Monitoring ocean health is increasingly urgent, but logistically challenging. Scientists need nimble research tools to scale our observations of the ocean and its inhabitants. We envision a future where robotic platforms, like MBARI’s LRAUVs, can monitor ocean health 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.