/The Luma Robot

The Luma Robot’s specialty is to travel through long and narrow underwater tunnels. It was developed by Coppe and operates easily in places where divers cannot reach.

 

The robot started to be developed to meet the needs of an electric power company that needed a technical solution to inspect underwater tunnels in its dams. Besides being long and narrow, the tunnels conduct turbid water, which hinders the inspection by the divers.

 

Power saving

 

To have an autonomous equipment, cables were eliminated and were replaced by other techniques. Power is supplied through batteries, and the communication is established by optical fiber. The Luma robot has several innovations that make it more economical regarding other underwater robots. As the tunnels are dark, lighting is provided by LED, the small diodes used in computers that emit lights. In addition to not showing overheating problems, LED lighting consumes less energy.

 

Initially designed to operate in shallow depths, Coppe’s robot was adapted to operate in an expedition to the South Pole, where it helped to map the biodiversity of the deep waters of the Admiralty Bay, in the King George Island. The robot collected material in 500-meter depth areas.