On a crisp November day at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, four hearty travelers set sail for a voyage that could herald a new era in our understanding of the world’s oceans. This was not a quick pleasure cruise – the voyagers planned to travel together as far as Hawaii and then split up, with two venturing on to Japan and the other two heading south to Australia.

A Wave Glider is launched off the coast of Hawaii. (Image courtesy of Liquid Robotics)

With names like Piccard Maru, Fontaine Maru, Benjamin, and Papa Mau, these travelers might seem to represent a swath of nationalities. In actuality, they are virtually identical – four marine robots called Wave Gliders that use only wave energy for propulsion. Manufactured by Liquid Robotics, the vessels are on a journey (the PacX Challenge) to break the world record for distance traveled by an autonomous marine robot. They will collect and transmit more than 2.25 million discrete data points during their journey.

The Wave Glider has a two-part architecture that consists of a surface float and subsurface glider. The separation between these two parts enables the system to harvest energy from the waves and turn it into forward thrust. Solar panels on the surface float provide electricity for onboard sensors.

Typical payloads include an acoustic modem, a marine automatic identification system, meteorological sensors, and passive acoustic monitoring. But the potential for this type of system to take measurements in and under the ocean is virtually endless.

Brian Anderson, vice president of oil and gas sales for Liquid Robotics, said the Wave Gliders pique the imagination of potential customers. “Everyone we talk to comes up with a new application for us,” he said. For oil and gas, applications might include seep detection. Anderson said that already his company is working with BP to differentiate between crude oil and refined products and measure the amount of product in the water vs. the sheen at the surface.

Another area of great interest is marine mammal protection. Many systems have been devised to passively monitor the acoustic utterances of cetaceans beneath the surface, but usually these are deployed by vessels as they enter an area. Anderson proposed an acoustic “baseline” survey of, say, the entire Gulf of Mexico that could be updated periodically to give an overall picture of marine mammal activity. Other potential uses include surface broadband, where two remote platforms could more easily communicate with each other without the need for a cellular network. And the Wave Gliders can obtain subsea measurements that can be harvested without a vessel. This could eventually be applied to seismic data acquisition, Anderson said.

Anderson enjoys having these conversations with potential clients. “We’re cultivating relationships with people who are experts and providing a reasonably priced, persistent platform that’s dependable” he said.

For more information, visit Liquidr.com. To view the datasets from the PacX Challenge, register for free access at Liquidr.com/pacx.