The Department of Defense (DoD) is faced with the challenge of identifying and characterizing locations in U.S. coastal and inland waters where underwater military munitions (UWMM) are present and develop safe and cost-effective means to remediate these sites as an important step towards comprehensive range clearance. The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Munitions Response (MR) Program Area has identified the need to develop technologies to detect, classify, and retrieve UWMM leftover from past military training and weapons testing activities. The underwater environment is one of the most challenging and dynamic operating environments for both man and machine making UWMM location and recovery especially difficult. One of the more critical and technically challenging environments, as identified by the 2007 SERDP and ESTCP Final Report (Technology Needs for the Characterization, Management, and Remediation of Military Munitions in Underwater Environments), is the surf-zone1. ARA studied two key engineering concepts that directly affect the ability of a robotic system to operate in the surf-zone; platform hull shape and propulsion. To address platform hull shape ARA undertook a research and technical study of an existing arthropod' (horseshoe crab) carapace as a biomimetic representation for the hull shape of a robotic system. This work was used to develop a hydro- dynamically advantageous shape for a robotic system. To address locomotive factors ARA completed a research and technical study based on an Archimedes screw drive as the mode of propulsion to assess platform traction and mobility in the near shore environment; very shallow water (VSW) and surf-zone (SZ). Technical Approach An applied research approach was used to study stability, mobility, and traction.
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