A robot created at Stanford University is diving down to shipwrecks and sunken planes in a way that humans can't. Known as OceanOneK, the robot allows its operators to feel like they're underwater explorers, too. OceanOneK resembles a human diver from the front, with arms and hands and eyes that have 3D vision, capturing the underwater world in full color. The back of the robot has computers and eight multidirectional thrusters that help it carefully maneuver the sites of fragile sunken ships.
When an operator at the ocean's surface uses controls to direct OceanOneK, the robot's haptic (touch-simulation) feedback system causes the person to feel the water's resistance as well as the contours of artifacts. OceanOneK's realistic sight and touch capabilities are enough to make people feel like they're diving down to the depths without the dangers or immense underwater pressure a human diver would experience.
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