NATO’s Underwater Challenge – Part 1 IT

Independent Films, Documentaries, Politics

We follow the teams from the University of Cambridge and Ensta Bretagne as they try to qualify for the finals of NATO’s Center for Maritime Research and Exploration robotic submarine competition. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

These students from Cambridge University are trying to qualifying for the finals of NATO’s robotic submarine competition in La Spezia, Italy.
Team leader Ralph Barton explains the challenge.
0.12
SOT: Ralph Barton, Student
“We need to prove that our vehicle can identify an underwater gateway and turn and pass through it. And so we’re going to do one test run with the tether attached and record some data and after that we hope to run it autonomously so it will find the gate by itself, pass through and if we achieve that we’ll have qualified and be able to compete tomorrow.”
0.31
Atmo: Can you add five, six seconds? Another 20 seconds after turning left…
0.34
Timing is everything in this competition.
The 15 university teams have half an hour each to make their subs complete a series of tasks. They include passing through a gate and tracking a pipeline. The hardest part is doing so autonomously.
Cambridge has spent a year preparing for this moment.
0.58
SOT: Ralph Burton, Student
“We’re so close now, we’re just fine-tuning the timings for our script to go through the gate and it looks pretty much within reach but each time we’re either one second too long or one second too short. So give us another ten minutes and we’ll see what we can come up with.”
1.13
The team from Ensta Bretagne is getting ready for its turn next. Team leader, Tamara Brizard, has returned for the third time to try and win this prestigious competition.
An engineering and marine archaeology student she’s interested in developing AUVs in order to learn more about the ocean.
1.30
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“The Ocean is a new frontier. We know more about the moon than we know about our oceans. So there are multiple issues it goes from security to exploration to even like I’m interested in Archaeology. We need systems also for just general mapping and basic information of the seafloor.”
1.53
The Ensta Bretagne Team has come with two AUVs this year because their interested in what’s known as ‘swarm technology’.
2.00
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“Our goal is actually to try and develop cooperative AUVs, this is the future, that’s what the industry is coming to, it’s innovating, it’s cutting edge. So we’re here to be able to test our AUVs and hopefully bring them to the point where they can collaborate.”
2.16
Developing swarm technology has many advantages. It minimizes risk and saves money. Whether for scientific exploration or military applications swarms can work faster and cover greater areas.
2.30
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“Like you would think about robots. You can have one robot which is super expensive and multi-task or you can have smaller, cheaper robots, cooperating together, doing the tasks faster and just more effectively.”
2.43
But swarm technology isn’t part of this year’s event. Each team can compete only with one sub and for most teams that’s challenging enough.
2.50
Atmo: Ralph Burton, Student
We mustn’t let the wifi antenna go under water otherwise we lose the connection and can’t set it off.”
2.58
Meanwhile Cambridge is running out of time, their sub is still narrowly missing the gate.
3.03
SOT: Ralph Burton, Student
“We’ve got three minutes. In that time we’ve got to get the vehicle started, it needs to go 25 metres across the basin and then take a left turn and go through the gate. We’re getting quite worried. The time is so short it’s going to be tough to get it done.”
3.18
Once the sub is in autonomous mode there’s nothing they can do. They must rely on their programming and the sensors. For NATO this competition is an way to nurture new talent and support research and engineering in an area that is important to the Alliance.
3.31
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“SAUC-E is kind of a mini-NATO. We have teams coming from all over Europe and even the world. This year we have a Canadian team. And it’s wonderful to be able to cooperate with them, talk with them, exchange ideas with them. So it kind of marries the NATO concept.”
3.47
Cambridge has run out of time. After having developed a completely new sub this year, it’s a big disappointment for the team.
3.56
SOT: Ralph Barton, Student
“We put so much work into this vehicle this year. But we do now have a much better vehicle than we’ve had before and there’s next year’s competition and so with this solid platform it should make it much easier for us to develop more software and have it better tested so that next year we can come and get the scores that I think we deserve.”
4.15
Ensta Bretagne has better luck and goes through to the finals.
4.20
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“After the qualifying rounds we’re in second place point-wise. So we’re very excited because it means that we’re probably going to, hopefully do well tomorrow, so it’s very exciting for us.”
4.32
Find out in part two how Ensta Bretagne fares in the finals against the other contenders and why Cambridge has reason to celebrate after all!
4.42
Atmo: Cambridge cheering…!
Sign off
4.50 END

Transcripts / Production notes / Scripts

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

These students from Cambridge University are trying to qualifying for the finals of NATO’s robotic submarine competition in La Spezia, Italy.
Team leader Ralph Barton explains the challenge.
0.12
SOT: Ralph Barton, Student
“We need to prove that our vehicle can identify an underwater gateway and turn and pass through it. And so we’re going to do one test run with the tether attached and record some data and after that we hope to run it autonomously so it will find the gate by itself, pass through and if we achieve that we’ll have qualified and be able to compete tomorrow.”
0.31
Atmo: Can you add five, six seconds? Another 20 seconds after turning left…
0.34
Timing is everything in this competition.
The 15 university teams have half an hour each to make their subs complete a series of tasks. They include passing through a gate and tracking a pipeline. The hardest part is doing so autonomously.
Cambridge has spent a year preparing for this moment.
0.58
SOT: Ralph Burton, Student
“We’re so close now, we’re just fine-tuning the timings for our script to go through the gate and it looks pretty much within reach but each time we’re either one second too long or one second too short. So give us another ten minutes and we’ll see what we can come up with.”
1.13
The team from Ensta Bretagne is getting ready for its turn next. Team leader, Tamara Brizard, has returned for the third time to try and win this prestigious competition.
An engineering and marine archaeology student she’s interested in developing AUVs in order to learn more about the ocean.
1.30
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“The Ocean is a new frontier. We know more about the moon than we know about our oceans. So there are multiple issues it goes from security to exploration to even like I’m interested in Archaeology. We need systems also for just general mapping and basic information of the seafloor.”
1.53
The Ensta Bretagne Team has come with two AUVs this year because their interested in what’s known as ‘swarm technology’.
2.00
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“Our goal is actually to try and develop cooperative AUVs, this is the future, that’s what the industry is coming to, it’s innovating, it’s cutting edge. So we’re here to be able to test our AUVs and hopefully bring them to the point where they can collaborate.”
2.16
Developing swarm technology has many advantages. It minimizes risk and saves money. Whether for scientific exploration or military applications swarms can work faster and cover greater areas.
2.30
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“Like you would think about robots. You can have one robot which is super expensive and multi-task or you can have smaller, cheaper robots, cooperating together, doing the tasks faster and just more effectively.”
2.43
But swarm technology isn’t part of this year’s event. Each team can compete only with one sub and for most teams that’s challenging enough.
2.50
Atmo: Ralph Burton, Student
We mustn’t let the wifi antenna go under water otherwise we lose the connection and can’t set it off.”
2.58
Meanwhile Cambridge is running out of time, their sub is still narrowly missing the gate.
3.03
SOT: Ralph Burton, Student
“We’ve got three minutes. In that time we’ve got to get the vehicle started, it needs to go 25 metres across the basin and then take a left turn and go through the gate. We’re getting quite worried. The time is so short it’s going to be tough to get it done.”
3.18
Once the sub is in autonomous mode there’s nothing they can do. They must rely on their programming and the sensors. For NATO this competition is an way to nurture new talent and support research and engineering in an area that is important to the Alliance.
3.31
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“SAUC-E is kind of a mini-NATO. We have teams coming from all over Europe and even the world. This year we have a Canadian team. And it’s wonderful to be able to cooperate with them, talk with them, exchange ideas with them. So it kind of marries the NATO concept.”
3.47
Cambridge has run out of time. After having developed a completely new sub this year, it’s a big disappointment for the team.
3.56
SOT: Ralph Barton, Student
“We put so much work into this vehicle this year. But we do now have a much better vehicle than we’ve had before and there’s next year’s competition and so with this solid platform it should make it much easier for us to develop more software and have it better tested so that next year we can come and get the scores that I think we deserve.”
4.15
Ensta Bretagne has better luck and goes through to the finals.
4.20
SOT: Tamara Brizard, Student
“After the qualifying rounds we’re in second place point-wise. So we’re very excited because it means that we’re probably going to, hopefully do well tomorrow, so it’s very exciting for us.”
4.32
Find out in part two how Ensta Bretagne fares in the finals against the other contenders and why Cambridge has reason to celebrate after all!
4.42
Atmo: Cambridge cheering…!
Sign off
4.50 END

Tags

• North Atlantic Treaty
• NATO organization
• NATO members
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• NATO's purpose
• NATO and Politics
• NATO’s Underwater Challenge