Autonomous Underwater Vehicles - an interview with Justin Manley

While autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are reasonably mature when it comes to like 'mowing the lawn', they are not quite as advanced when it comes to other applications, such as intervention, explains Justin Manley. In this interview he explains the challenges ahead for these vehicles, some of their limiting factors and highlights some of their more unusual uses. Manley believes that the future is bright for AUVs and there will come a day when instead of one very expensive AUV, we will see many small inexpensive AUVs working together which will offer a powerful approach. It will be like when personal computers were first connected together in a network, offering far more capability.

Justin Manley has been involved with marine technology since 1990 when he began working for his family company, Chicago Marine Towing. He holds degrees in ocean engineering and has been involved in the development of ocean instrumentation, autonomous marine robots, autonomous surface craft and the Odyssey Class autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). Since 2002, Manley has provided consulting services to the US government while working as lead ocean engineer for Mitretek Systems and, currently, for Battelle. He is chair of both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's AUV Working Group and the MTS AUV Professional Committee.