Technology Innovator Awards 2020

Jun20311 Best Underwater Autonomous Mapping Technology: UAM Tec® Technology doesn’t just help us to move forward, it can help us to understand the world that is all around us. For the team at UAM Tec, artificial intelligence has the potential to give scientists a new perspective on one of Earth’s great mysteries. As the team prepare to plumb the depths, we turn up the pressure to see how they’re using technology to achieve such amazing results. Looking beyond the surly bonds of Earth and out into the stars is something anyone can do. Those with a simple telescope can discover new stars and planets, and have done before. For all humanity’s ability to look beyond, we know surprisingly little about our planet’s inner space. Very little of the ocean floor in any area has been properly mapped and photographed, with the challenges being to find a system that makes the process economically and technically practical. For the team at UAM Tec, this presented an opportunity. In the long run, they intend to create the underwater version of Google Maps, named “WaterView”, and to do this, they are using and creating the most sophisticated systems on the market. The direction and aim of the company is in the name – UAM Tec stands for Underwater Autonomous Mapping Technology, and is the beating heart behind the business’s success. The team have developed an autonomous underwater vehicle, able to travel around the ocean and waterways using imagery, sonar, motion tracking and artificial intelligence to navigate and accurately record its surroundings. The team’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are the heart of the operation, using exciting new software solutions and the latest in technology to allow the best possible chance of getting an exceptional result. These AUVs can be applied to a variety of different situations ranging from commercial to scientific to defensive applications. They are, essentially, an underwater drone, with all of the benefits and challenges that this brings. People have been investigating the potential for subsea robotics for years, and the UAM Tec team have brought together all of this knowledge and their own findings to produce models that stand out from the crowd. The latest model – the Model H-10 – has incredible potential for use. Not only does it utilise leading edge sensor and camera technology, but it brings the many advantages of machine learning, advanced processing capabilities and high yield power supplies to the market. The team are well established, with their pioneering work allowing them unique access to resources and facilities. The company is based in Port Melbourne and boasts all of the necessary equipment for the design, fabrication and testing of Advanced AUVs. An above-ground pool, suitable for preliminary testing of vehicles prior to sea trials, is on-site to make testing more efficient. Handling work in-house is incredibly important to the team at UAM Tec, with the need for consistency across all aspects of their projects paramount. This means that the team has a broad range of disciplines all collected under one roof. From the creation of electronic hardware, through to the accompanying software that enables subsea operations, nothing is left to chance. The potential of what UAM Tec has to offer cannot be quantified easily, with exciting possibilities for new scientific life lurking beneath the waves. Sub-ocean mapping has the potential to revolutionise what we know about our planet. Search and rescue could be revolutionised, with the AUVs tracking down wreckage or black boxes. As more is discovered, the team hopes to inspire a whole new generation of people to explore the depths and the wonders that they have to offer. Few would disagree with the idea that we do not know enough about how our world works, and underwater is one of the most exciting areas yet to be explored on our planet. For some, innovative technology is an end in and of itself, but for the talented team at UAM Tec, it’s a tool that could open the door to a whole new world. Company: UAM Tec Contact: Troy Rabôt Web Address: www.uamtec.com