(Robotics) Sawfish: Underwater Lumberjack Robot, page 1

Sawfish is a real-life robotic underwater lumberjack; it swims
down to harvest trees that are now underwater due to flooding
to create reservoirs.

The Triton Sawfish™ Underwater Harvester is the world's first
viable marine technology for logging underwater forests.
It is the only deep water logging machine.
Piloted and powered remotely, it has eight video cameras as
well as sonar to fully inform the remote operator.

Because water buoyancy helps, it can handle larger trees than
land-based mechanical harvesters.
It carries from 37-50 reusable inflatable bags to float trees to
the surface for recovery and processing (one bag per tree).
A 55" electric chain saw is used to perform the cutting.

The Sawfish even uses biodegradable vegetable oil for its
hydraulic system.
The Sawfish has received awards like Building Green's Top
Ten Green Building Products, because it can reach this other-
wise lost resource.
It is estimated that there are over five billion linear board feet
of usable timber submerged in British Columbia's lakes and
reservoirs alone.
It has also been certified by the Rainforest Alliance in its
underwater logging/salvaging techniques.

SOURCE:
TechNovelgy.com

This is a very cool robot, one that I never would have thought
would be built.

I actually did'nt know there was enough underwater forests to
even merit such a technology.

Comments, Opinions?

[edit on 12/6/2006 by iori_komei]