Bottom crawler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bottom crawler is an underwater exploration, research and work vehicle.[1] It is designed to sink to the bottom of a body of water, where it uses the traction of its wheels or tracks against the bottom and can move a load.[1] It can be crewed or uncrewed.[1] It can tethered to a surface ship by a cable or cables providing power, control, video, and lifting capabilities, but this is not essential.
Such devices have been proposed for use in deep sea mining.[2]
It was considered as a platform for nuclear missiles, but was rejected because it is restricted to essentially two dimensions, unlike a ballistic missile submarine.[3]
Limitations
Its use is limited by the composition of the bottom; unless it is firm, the crawler can become immobilized by sinking into sediment.[1] Another serious problem is that the tracks or wheels can stir up the sediment, causing it to seriously degrade vision.[1]
Its power source can be internal (batteries) or external (cable), but each presents problems.[1] Batteries are heavy and have limited capacity for sizable loads, while power cables can impede mobility.[1]