Underwater drones

While aerial drones can travel long distances quickly, aquatic drones can explore underwater environments. The TJ-FlyingFish offers the best of both worlds, as it's a flying quadcopter that is also able to make its way through the inky depths.

It may look like a fat torpedo, but there's more than meets eye with HII's newly unveiled REMUS 620 medium-class UUV, which is an autonomous robotic submarine that combines artificial intelligence with an operational range of 275 nm (316 mi, 509 km).

US military contractor Anduril has signed a US$100 million contract with the Australian Navy, to design and deliver three iterations of an Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV). These drones will be as big as buses, but not watertight.

While not nearly as expensive as full-on industrial ROVs (remotely operated vehicles), smaller underwater drones can still cost up to a few thousand dollars. The BentiX is designed to be different, as it could be yours for under US$500.

When remotely controlling an underwater drone in flowing water, it can be difficult to keep the vehicle's camera trained on a specific target. A new AI-based vision platform, however, allows Qysea's existing FiFish drones to do so automatically.

Consumer drone technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, yet we mostly just hear about aerial drones. Underwater drones "are a thing" too, and I recently had a chance to try out one of the best – Chasing Innovation's Gladius Mini S.

Back in 2020, we heard about the FiFish V6 underwater drone, which was a successor to the FiFish V3 model. Now the V6 is itself being bettered, by the new-and-improved FiFish V6 Expert.

Back in 2016, we told you about the iBubble, an underwater drone that autonomously follows and films scuba divers. Well, it now has a more capable industrial-use big brother, known as the Seasam.

Although underwater drones are capable of performing a variety of tasks, getting them to the "dive site" can still sometimes be challenging. A new system is designed to help, by using an aerial drone to transport and deploy an underwater drone.

Despite ongoing advances in the field of underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), the devices have remained tethered to the surface via communications cables. Such is not the case with the ExRay, however, which uses light instead.

As compared to true ROVs (remotely operated vehicles), less-expensive underwater drones tend to be aimed mainly at hobbyists. The Geneinno T1 Pro drone, however, is designed to perform some major-league underwater tasks.

When seeing an underwater drone for the first time, some people say "That would make a great fish-finder!". The problem is, the device's user can't always tell where the drone is. That's where the Chasing F1 Fish Finder Drone comes in.