Issue 37 Unmanned Systems Technology April/May 2021 Einride next-gen Pod l Battery technology l Dive Technologies AUV-Kit l UGVs insight l Vanguard EFI/ETC vee twins l Icarus Swarms l Transponders l Sonobot 5 l IDEX 2021 report

86 O ver the past few years, EvoLogics has attracted a lot of attention for its various marine technology innovations. Its biomimetic UUV projects in particular have made headlines in both the technical and mainstream media (this publication included) for their operational capabilities and designs. While these projects continue as subjects of r&d in the German company, its Sonobot USV has also received ongoing development as a successful commercial product for hydrographic survey missions, with its fifth and latest version having been released in 2020. The Sonobot 5 departs significantly from the industry-standard boat designs common to hydrographic survey USVs. It adopts an engineering approach that is similar to the company’s other platforms, while including several new features and modifications to make it more practical for hydrographic surveys. The original Sonobot was developed in 2008 as essentially a buoy equipped with an echo sounder, simple electronics and no propulsion system. Partnerships with customers in landscape mapping spurred the development of the Sonobot 2 in 2010, which included its redesign as a USV. It featured pontoons on either side of a main body, and integrated an autopilot for pre-planned navigation and surveying missions. “We then developed the Sonobot 3 in 2012 with some design improvements including new jet thrusters,” says Thomas Tietz, team leader for mechatronics and robotics at EvoLogics. The Sonobot 4 then introduced many new components and improvements, and allowed a complete architectural rethink and redesign that is now available with the fifth version. “The customer, Geo DV, needed something to bridge the gap in bathymetric surveying between man- made measurements using handheld The latest version of this marine survey USV is the result of a complete redesign over previous models. Rory Jackson reports on what that entailed Radical relaunch April/May 2021 | Unmanned Systems Technology The Sonobot 5 follows 12 years of development since the first Sonobot, which was an autonomous buoy (Images courtesy of EvoLogics)